The percentage of recent immigrants acquiring Canadian citizenship has declined considerably, mainly among immigrants with lower family incomes and lower levels of education, a new study shows.

Among recent immigrants, the citizenship rate rose from 68.6% in 1991 to 75.4% in 1996 and then declined to 60.4% in 2016. Much of the 15 percentage-point decline occurred after 2006, the new Statistics Canada study stated.

Canada has one of the highest immigrant citizenship rates among major Western countries and citizenship is a key marker of integration, allowing immigrants to vote, run for political office, and may also improve immigrants' job opportunities.

Over the 1996-to-2016 period, the citizenship rate declined from 69.2% to 61.0% among recent immigrants whose mother tongue was English or French, compared with a decline from 79.7% to 63.4% among immigrants whose mother tongue was not English or French but who could speak English or French.

Among recent immigrants with a bachelor's or higher degree, the citizenship rate decreased from 80.9% to 67.1% over the 1996-to-2016 period. Among high school graduates, the rate declined from 75.7% to 55.4%.

The magnitude of the decline also varied considerably by source region.

The citizenship rate was stable or declined slightly among immigrants from the United States, Western Europe and South America, whereas the rate among East Asian immigrants fell from 82.9% in 1996 to 44.8% in 2016.

This decline was driven mostly by Chinese immigrants, partly reflecting their changing preferences in light of China's rapid economic growth since the late 1990s.

Lower family income, lower knowledge of official languages, and lower educational attainment were associated with a larger decline in citizenship rates.

Among recent immigrants in the lowest family income category (adult-equivalent adjusted income of $10,000 or less), for example, the rate declined from 75.0% in 1996 to 51.5% in 2016. In comparison, the rate among recent immigrants in the highest family income category (over $100,000) dropped from 69.7% to 66.7%.

Immigrants with lower family incomes experienced a much larger decline in citizenship rates than did those with higher family incomes. The decline among lower-income immigrant families largely occurred between 2006 and 2011.

The citizenship rate also declined much more among immigrants with poorer official language skills than it did among immigrants whose mother tongue was English or French. The citizenship rate among immigrants with poorer official language skills has been declining since 2001 and was observed overall intercensal periods.

Education was also a factor, with citizenship rates declining much more among immigrants with lower than higher levels of educational attainment. This was primary observed between 2011 and 2016.

When all three of these factors—family income, knowledge of official languages, and educational attainment—are combined, the citizenship rate was more or less constant between 1996 and 2016 for the most advantaged group of recent immigrants (i.e., with a high income, university education, and English or French as a mother tongue).

In contrast, it declined significantly among the more disadvantaged group (i.e., with a low income, high school or less education and mother tongue not English or French).

There was also a significant variation in the extent to which citizenship rates declined among immigrants from different source regions. Most striking was the large decline in citizenship take-up among immigrants from East Asia—mainly China. Indeed, by 2016 the citizenship rate among recent Chinese immigrants more closely resembled the rate among immigrants from developed rather than from developing countries.