Economy Overview
As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. The 1989 US-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which includes Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the US, its principal trading partner. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US, which absorbs about three-fourths of Canadian exports each year. Canada is the US's largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power. Given its great natural resources, skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007. Buffeted by the global economic crisis, the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008, and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus. Canada's major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the financial sector's tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization. During 2010, Canada's economy grew only 3%, due to decreased global demand and a highly valued Canadian dollar.
Agriculture Products
wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish
Industries
transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas
Industrial Production Growth Rate
5.8% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 73
Labor Force
18.53 million (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 31
Electricity production
604.4 billion kWh (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 7
Electricity Consumption
549.5 billion kWh (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 7
Electricity Exports
51.11 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Electricity Imports
33.62 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Unemployment Rate
8% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 92 8.3% (2009 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
9.4% note: this figure is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a calculation that results in higher figures than found in many comparable economies; Canada does not have an official poverty line (2008)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 2.6%
Highest 10%: 24.8% (2000)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
32.1 (2005)country comparison to the world: 105 31.5 (1994)
Budget
Revenues: $601 billion
Expenditures: $689.8 billion (2010 est.)
Public Debt
84% of GDP (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 15 83.3% of GDP (2009 est.) note: figures are for gross general government debt, as opposed to net federal debt; gross general government debt includes both intragovernmental debt and the debt of public entities at the sub-national level
Central Bank Discount Rate
1% (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 143 0.25% (31 December 2009 est.)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$585.5 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 9 $513.5 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Broad Money
$1.356 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 12 $1.251 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$2.731 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 10 $2.488 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$2.16 trillion (31 December 2010)country comparison to the world: 8 $1.681 trillion (31 December 2009)$1.002 trillion (31 December 2008)
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$57.15 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 29 $54.36 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Debt External
$1.181 trillion (30 June 2011)country comparison to the world: 14 $1.009 trillion (30 June 2010)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
$561.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 11 $523.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
$616.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 11 $593.5 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Exchange Rates
Canadian dollars (CAD) per US dollar -1.0346 (2010)1.1431 (2009)1.0364 (2008)1.0724 (2007)1.1334 (2006)
