Estimating the top tail of the family wealth distribution in Canada: updates and trends
Senator Rosa Galvez requested that the PBO update the High-net-worth Family Database for the year 2019 and that the same methodology be applied to previous years in order to study the trends in the distribution of Canadian net wealth. PBO applies a modelling approach from a past report to estimate the top tail of the family wealth distribution in Canada for the year 2019. The approach is also applied to the years 1999, 2012, and 2016 in order to study the trends in wealth held by the wealthiest families in Canada. This report provides the details of the update and the results.
Highlights
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PBO finds that the top one percent’s share of family net wealth in Canada has increased by approximately 5 percentage points over the period of 1999-2019.
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In PBO’s update of the High-net-worth Family Database using the 2019 Survey of Financial Security public use microdata file, PBO finds that the top one percent’s share of family net wealth in Canada is 24.8 per cent whereas the bottom 40 per cent of families own 1.1% of total wealth in 2019.
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PBO also finds that there were approximately 160,600 families in the top one percent in 2019, and they each had a net wealth of at least $6.3 million.
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There were approximately 78,400 families with more than $10 million in net wealth and their share of family net wealth was about 19.3 per cent in 2019.
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PBO projects that, in the second quarter of 2021, there was approximately 161,700 families in the top one percent, and they each had a net wealth of at least $7.3 million.