The gap between Canada’s richest and poorest grew last year as financial markets gained, interest payouts declined and the job market softened, said Statistics Canada on Monday.
The agency says the income gap — measuring the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 per cent and those in the bottom 40 per cent — reached 46.7 percentage points in 2025.
The result compared with a gap of 46.4 percentage points a year earlier.
The wider gap came as the lowest-income households saw wages rise slower than the overall average and saw their investment income fall because of lower interest payments on savings, the agency said.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada says the top 20 per cent of the wealth distribution accounted for 65.7 per cent of Canada’s total net worth at the end of 2025, averaging $3.5 million per household.
To provide a broader view we can look at the World Inequality Index to see how much the top 10% richest people in a state account for roughly the state’s’ wealth.
The top 10% in larger European countries like Germany, France, UK, Italy, and in countries like Australia and New Zealand, the rate is slightly lower than in Canada, somewhere between 57-60% (Source).
[Edit typo.]
Which direction are we moving on that index?
You can look it up yourself. Canada is more or less stable since 2000 as the 10% wealthiest account for slightly less than 60%. In the European countries the share is also more or less the same as 25 years ago, and at a similar level as Canada.
In China, however, the top 10%'s share rose from 48% to 69%.