While there are many studies on differences in earnings between immigrants and the native-born or among immigrant groups, they do not consider distribution and concentration of income among immigrants explicity. These aspects are important for understanding the distribution of economic welfare and consumer behaviour among members and hence are policy relevant. Using the 1991 Census data, the distribution and concentration of income have been examined among 15 broad birthplace groups for population aged 55 years and over. About 19 per cent of males and 15 per cent of females receive less than half the median income and obtain 5 per cent and 3 per cent of the aggregate income respectively. About 30 per cent of males and 29 per cent of females receive more than one and half times the median income and obtain 61 per cent and 59 per cent of aggregate income respectively. About 51 per cent of males and 56 per cent of females who receive incomes between half and one and half times the median income are termed middle-class and their shares of aggregate income amount to 34 and 38 per cent respectively. Although older immigrants aged 55 years and over, as a group, have roughly the same quartile distribution and concentration of income as their Canadian-born counterparts, the birthplace groups differ considerably. Those from the developing regions, that is, the groups that have lower average annual incomes, also have more inequitable distribution of income than the Canadian-born or their counterparts from the developed regions. Thus, income distribution is more polarized in populations from developing regions than in populations from developed regions or in the Canadian-born population. On average, females receive 45 per cent less income than males, and there is less polarization of income among them than among males regardless of the place of birth. A part of the explanation lies in the receipt of government transfers, which tend to equalize rather than polarize incomes, and older women derive a higher proportion of their income from government transfers than older men.

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income distribution welfare economics Canada immigrant population