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PBO releases new report on wealth trends in Canada

Ottawa (Ontario), September 11, 2025

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has released an updated High-net-worth Families Database (HFD), showing that Canada’s wealth remains heavily concentrated.

In 2023, the top 1 per cent of families held 24 per cent of total net wealth, while the top 10 per cent held 53 per cent, and the top 20 per cent held 69 per cent. The bottom 40 per cent owned just 3.3 per cent. The concentration of net wealth among the top 1 per cent has remained relatively stable since 2016.

The PBO’s report estimates that 169,400 families were in the top 1 per cent in 2023, each with at least $7.4 million in net wealth. That number is projected to rise to 176,800 families with $7.5 million by late 2024. “This update provides a more recent picture of wealth concentration in Canada,” said Jason Jacques, Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer. “By integrating richer data sources, we can better understand the economic realities of high-net-worth families.”

The High-net-worth Families Database (HFD) incorporates new data, including Maclean’s 2024 Rich List and the full Survey of Financial Security, improving accuracy over previous versions. A public version of the database is available on the PBO website.

Publication

{"id":"RP-2526-009-S","is_published":"2025-09-11T12:57:07.000000Z","release_date":"2025-09-11T13:00:00.000000Z","last_revised_date":null,"title_en":"Estimating the top tail of the family wealth distribution in Canada \u2013 2025 update","title_fr":"Estimation de l\u2019extr\u00e9mit\u00e9 sup\u00e9rieure de la distribution du patrimoine familial au Canada \u2013 Mises \u00e0 jour de 2025","internal_id":"RP-2526-009-S","metadata":{"abstract_en":"This report updates the Parliamentary Budget Officer\u2019s High-net-worth Family Database (HFD) and highlights the recent evolution of the wealth distribution in Canada.","abstract_fr":"Ce rapport met \u00e0 jour la Base de donn\u00e9es sur les familles \u00e0 valeur nette \u00e9lev\u00e9e (BDFE) du Directeur parlementaire du budget et met en \u00e9vidence l\u2019\u00e9volution r\u00e9cente de la r\u00e9partition de la richesse au Canada.","highlights":[{"content":{"en":"The PBO 2023 High-net-worth Families Database (HFD) shows that the top one per cent of economic families in Canada hold 24 per cent of the country\u2019s total net wealth, the top 10 per cent hold 53 per cent of total net wealth, and the top 20 per cent hold 69 per cent of total net wealth. The middle 40 per cent own around 27.6 per cent of net wealth and the bottom 40 per cent own around 3.3 per cent of net wealth.","fr":"La Base de donn\u00e9es sur les familles \u00e0 valeur nette \u00e9lev\u00e9e (BDFE) du DPB de 2023 montre que le 1 % des familles \u00e9conomiques les plus riches au Canada d\u00e9tiennent 24 % du patrimoine net total du pays, les 10 % les plus riches en d\u00e9tiennent 53 %, et les 20 % les plus riches, 69 % du patrimoine net total. Les 40 % moyens poss\u00e8dent environ 27,6 % du patrimoine net total et les 40 % inf\u00e9rieurs en poss\u00e8dent environ 3,3 %."}},{"content":{"en":"The updated HFD estimates similar or slightly lower wealth concentration among high-net-worth families over time since 2019. There are significant sources of uncertainty in the data.","fr":"La BDFE mise \u00e0 jour estime que la concentration de la richesse \u00e9tait similaire d\u2019une ann\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019autre ou qu\u2019elle a l\u00e9g\u00e8rement diminu\u00e9 au cours des ann\u00e9es depuis 2019. Toutefois, les donn\u00e9es comportent d\u2019importantes sources d\u2019incertitude."}},{"content":{"en":"PBO finds that there were approximately 169,400 families in the top one per cent in 2023, and they each had a net wealth of at least $7.4 million. PBO projects these numbers to have grown to 176,800 families with a minimum net wealth of $7.5 million in the last quarter of 2024.","fr":"Le DPB a relev\u00e9 qu\u2019il y avait environ 169 400 familles du 1 % le plus riche en 2023, et qu\u2019elles d\u00e9tenaient chacune un patrimoine net d\u2019au moins 7,4 millions de dollars. Le DPB pr\u00e9voit que ces chiffres sont pass\u00e9s \u00e0 176 800 familles d\u00e9tenant au moins 7,5 millions de dollars au dernier trimestre de 2024."}},{"content":{"en":"Ancillary analysis indicates that, while the full Survey of Financial Security (SFS) provides slightly more precision in its estimate of the wealth distribution compared to the Public Use Microdata SFS, the difference is small. Most of the improvement in capturing wealth at the top tail of the distribution comes from using the billionaire lists to supplement the SFS data.","fr":"L\u2019analyse accessoire indique que, bien que l\u2019ensemble des donn\u00e9es de l\u2019Enqu\u00eate sur la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 financi\u00e8re (ESF) offre une estimation l\u00e9g\u00e8rement plus pr\u00e9cise de la r\u00e9partition du patrimoine comparativement aux microdonn\u00e9es \u00e0 grande diffusion de l\u2019ESF, la diff\u00e9rence demeure relativement faible. La plupart des am\u00e9liorations apport\u00e9es \u00e0 la mesure de la richesse au sommet de la distribution proviennent de l\u2019utilisation des listes de milliardaires pour compl\u00e9ter les donn\u00e9es de l\u2019ESF."}}]},"updated_at":"2025-09-11T14:48:36.000000Z","type":"RP","slug":"RP-2526-009-S--estimating-top-tail-family-wealth-distribution-in-canada-2025-update--estimation-extremite-superieure-distribution-patrimoine-familial-canada-mises-jour-2025","permalinks":{"en":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/en\/publications\/RP-2526-009-S--estimating-top-tail-family-wealth-distribution-in-canada-2025-update--estimation-extremite-superieure-distribution-patrimoine-familial-canada-mises-jour-2025","preview":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/en\/publications\/RP-2526-009-S--estimating-top-tail-family-wealth-distribution-in-canada-2025-update--estimation-extremite-superieure-distribution-patrimoine-familial-canada-mises-jour-2025"},"fr":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/fr\/publications\/RP-2526-009-S--estimating-top-tail-family-wealth-distribution-in-canada-2025-update--estimation-extremite-superieure-distribution-patrimoine-familial-canada-mises-jour-2025","preview":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/fr\/publications\/RP-2526-009-S--estimating-top-tail-family-wealth-distribution-in-canada-2025-update--estimation-extremite-superieure-distribution-patrimoine-familial-canada-mises-jour-2025"}},"artifacts":{"main":{"en":{"public":"https:\/\/distribution-a617274656661637473.pbo-dpb.ca\/94e59eedd1df221279b80e2f1378103b3d8f81a9388b667f54db173d1d5321a8"},"fr":{"public":"https:\/\/distribution-a617274656661637473.pbo-dpb.ca\/3deb8d8bf39cefe6b19f5cced56104ff51261fb565c4139e62f182dfd23470b1"}}},"coverpages":{"distribution":{"fr":{"small":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/55c6692d10f407cdda6d3977f6df32a61b5ff7cab441f120dcbfe97d9eed6442","large":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/7f79bd466d52fb3d257279f04499537b3285217b7ab5edf69495b0a11d8cebac","h150_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/0e84e75ef4446919faff833e1bdd1843603a9d4e2d06b201f34408640864cf94","h150_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/3847c2df2f4cbe701b09cdfa5ccdc865e26cf9d24939f2511cb977a29bacb7dc","h300_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/aebc0a599bfeaf216005f1162df91ed57d2341df174364610a1c2f2cf4feb220","h300_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/d4544de15392072644f6d4faa2c25673cfde3fc471c813fed02f19560ba001ae","h600_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/edcd56bea32a84f255fbfa182b2712860b26c7e31e0aeaebe53f949bcdd9aa3f","h600_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/2fa83863f3390406e1c053c0def028b8731334af105ea11b668f5191a7c1d69a"},"en":{"small":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/e43631c0f6f1c86441192752e2617b20dbcbc0893d359e6666575f34f062d5fe","large":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/fa85cdb4ecec730605e6debed6dbb7eef9ae21b7e45c5fccae320d44165a2433","h150_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/ee6584df3b8654c848433a5aa9c2129b998ca64f976c4611380542597543f352","h150_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/2ba0ff24879f000b5a9fbeb962acfb6b2ecb50b71baafd9d6fec7d7bcc70ce44","h300_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/d455e0dbca31a6237ec11997f2eece68a71774366e6ee75fcd8a44d9e797789e","h300_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/9e64d1bae06372dc660808465c78c544b86f91d401339c2c210c28d424b259b8","h600_png_optimized":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/1b13c46afb97e1829b825933ecf32da186db5fe9f93960d361abdc255ac60a55","h600_webp":"https:\/\/distribution-i696d61676573.pbo-dpb.ca\/f97bb12d2a73a5548d428d9703afe53a050c3fd2c0ad6b2c1d38fc280ac1cfb5"}}},"quotes":[],"bills":[],"labels":[],"bibtex":{"en":"@techreport{PBO-RP2526009S,\n author={Dong, Matt},\n title={Estimating the top tail of the family wealth distribution in Canada - 2025 update},\n institution={The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer},\n year=2025,\n \n address = \u0022Ottawa, ON\u0022\n}","fr":"@techreport{DPB-RP2526009S,\n author={Dong, Matt},\n title={Estimation de l\u2019extr\\\u0027{e}mit\\\u0027{e} sup\\\u0027{e}rieure de la distribution du patrimoine familial au Canada - Mises \\`{a} jour de 2025},\n institution={Bureau de la directrice parlementaire du budget},\n year=2025,\n \n address = \u0022Ottawa, ON\u0022\n}"}}