4. International students and Canada’s export

Because international student expenditures represent revenue from goods and services sold to residents from overseas, this representation of international student spending is an export of international education services from Canada.

In this section, we compare the value of international education services, as measured by total spending in Canada, with the total export of services and merchandise from Canada. We also provide a comparison of the total value of international student spending by the top 10 source countries with the value of Canada’s exports to these countries.

In Canada’s official account of the balance of payment, spending by international students is captured under “education-related personal travel,” which is part of Canada’s total export in services. We believe that Statistics Canada’s estimate of education-related personal travel may be underestimating the true value of total spending by international students and therefore present an alternate way of evaluating such spending in this report. For a detailed description of how to reconcile these two sets of estimates, please refer to Appendix 3.

On this page

• Spending by international students and Canada’s trade
• The trade impact of international students from top 10 source countries

Spending by international students and Canada’s trade

We estimate that the total value of international student spending in Canada was over $37.3 billion in 2022. When compared with Canada’s total export of services in 2022, which includes spending by international students and was worth $173.0 billion, international student expenditures were equal to 21.6% of the total value of Canada’s service exports. Although not specifically calculated in this report, total spending by international students between 2021 and 2022 would have gone up at least 30.8%.^[1] By contrast, Canada’s total export of services in 2022 grew 16.1% from the year before.^[2]

Canada is known for its exports from resource sectors like oil, natural gas, logging and forestry. Few people realize that international student spending also makes a substantial contribution.

In 2022, the total amount of international student spending ($37.3 billion) surpassed the value of Canada’s exports in many product categories, for example, wood and wood products ($25.7 billion), fertilizers ($17.9 billion), or electrical or electronic machinery and equipment ($19.2 billion). Total international student spending in 2022 was equivalent to about 4.8% of the total value of Canada’s merchandise exports ($779.1 billion). The impact of total spending of international students on trade is shown in tables 10 and 11.

Source: RKA and Trade Data Online

Source: RKA, Statistics Canada Table 36-10-0007-01 and Trade Data Online

The trade impact of international students from top 10 source countries

In the international student market, the top 10 source countries account for almost three quarters of the overall number of students.^[4] India, China, and Philippines are the top three source countries for long-term students. Japan and Brazil are the top two source countries for short-term students.

In terms of source countries, the number of students from India alone accounted for almost 40% of the total number of long-term students. Students from the top three source countries (India, China, and Philippines) accounted for a little over half of all long-term students.

Japan and Brazil are the two top countries for students studying in short-term language training programs in Canada. Students from the top 10 source countries accounted for over 86% of all such students. Detailed information on source countries can be found in appendix 4.

Source: RKA, Statistics Canada Table 36-10-0007-01 (International transaction in services, by select countries, annual) and Table 12-10-0130-01 (Canadian international merchandise trade by country and by product section, customs-based, annual (x 1,000))