TORONTO - The proportion of visible minorities in Canada, already one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, is set to explode in the coming decades and account for one-third of the population, Statistics Canada says.

In a projection released Tuesday, Statistics Canada says that by 2031 up to 14.4 million people in Canada could be a visible minority - with so-called minorities becoming the majority in two major cities.

Driven largely by immigration, but also birth rates and younger median ages among visible minorities, the projection suggests the face of Canada will have changed dramatically over half a century.

In 1981 there were about one million Canadians - five per cent of the population - who identified themselves as visible minorities. The projection for 2031 is more than double the 5.3 million visible minorities counted in the 2006 census.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100309/national/vis_min_growth