| Canada is seen by many to be one of the most desirable places in
which to live. Six times in the last ten years, the United Nations'
Human Development Index rated Canada as the best place in the world
to live in. This UN survey, which takes into account many different
criteria such as income, education, public safety, housing, cost of
living and life expectancy, placed Canada first among 174 countries
during the last six years.
Although Canada enjoys a high standard of living, the cost of living
remains quite low; Toronto ranks 103rd in the list of world cities,
Vancouver 120th, Montréal 127th and Calgary 131st. Canadian
cities are bargains when compared to other industrial countries,
Canada is one the best places in the world where the cost of living
is the lowest. The G.I.P per person is of $23.500.
Canada has also been blessed with almost endless land area. It
is the second largest country in terms of area, but ranks only 31st
in terms of population. Canada's population of 31 million shares
almost 10 million square kilometers of land.
Each year, Citizenship and Immigration officers: process more than
100,000 immigration applications; process about 100,000 employment
authorizations; grant close to 45,000 visitor extensions; conduct
approximately 20,000 investigations; supervise the removal of about
5,000 people from Canada who were in the country illegally; in Canada
alone, staff processed over 50,700 student authorizations (documents
issued for new entrants and extensions); and staff abroad processed
33,200 student authorizations.
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