5% of Canadians self-identify as Muslim. Almost million Canadians self-identified as Indigenous. Data collection method Listed below are the ethnic groups of Canadian residents (citizens, landed immigrants and non-citizen temporary residents) as self-identified in the 2016 census in which approximately 35,151,000 census forms were completed). The relevant census question asked for "the ethnic or cultural origins" of the respondent's ancestors and not the respondents themselves. As data were collected by self-declaration, ethnic groups may not necessarily correspond to the true ancestry of respondents. Many respondents acknowledged multiple ancestries. These people were added to the "multiple origin" total for each origin listed. These include responses as varied as a respondent who listed eight different origins and a respondent who answered "French Canadian" (leading to them being counted once for "French" and once for "Canadian"). As with all self-reported data, understanding of the question may have varied from respondent to respondent. Larger ethnic origins (200,000 or more individuals per group; 2016 census) Smaller ethnic origins (2016 census) Evolution from 1871 to 1921 During the fifty-year period beginning from the first census of independent Canada in 1871 until the census of 1921, the national ethnic composition was multicultural, however in the early period was dominated by four origin groups from western and northern Europe; French, English, Irish, and Scottish. Following the French and British Isles origin groups, Continental European communities were the largest in Canada, and grew fairly rapidly between the 1901 census and the 1921 census. Nominally small East Asian, South Asian, West Asian, and West African descended communities also existed during this time period. The ethnic French population, comprising a plurality of the total population from confederation until just prior to the 1921 census, overwhelmingly relied on natural increase for growth, with progeny stemming from early settlers who arrived throughout the 17th and 18th centuries; migration from France had been severely curtailed by the British empire and early governments of independent Canada. Population growth amongst the French population occurred at relatively high pace, increasing from 1,082,940 persons in 1871 to 2,452,743 persons in 1921. Despite an increase of nearly 1.5 million persons during this fifty-year period, the French proportion of the total Canadian population dropped slightly, from 31.1%, to 27.1%. By contrast, large population increases amongst the three main ethnic groups from the British Isles (English, Irish, and Scottish) were achieved through natural increase but relied heavily on high immigration rates