Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a high per-capita income, a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). Canada is a mixed market, ranking lower than the U.S. but higher than most western European nations on the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom. Since the early 1990s, the Canadian economy has been growing rapidly with low unemployment and large government surpluses on the federal level. Today Canada closely resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and high living standards.] As of October 2007, Canada's national unemployment rate of 5.9% is its lowest in 33 years. Provincial unemployment rates vary from a low of 3.6% in Alberta to a high of 14.6% in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In the past century, the growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. As with other first world nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three quarters of Canadians. However, Canada is unusual among developed countries in the importance of the primary sector, with the logging and oil industries being two of Canada's most important.
Canada is one of the few developed nations that are net exporters of energy.] Atlantic Canada has vast offshore deposits of natural gas and large oil and gas resources are centred in Alberta. The vast Athabasca Tar Sands give Canada the world's second largest reserves of oil behind Saudi Arabia. In Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario and Manitoba, hydroelectric power is a cheap and clean source of renewable energy.
Canada is one of the world's most important suppliers of agricultural products, with the Canadian Prairies one of the most important suppliers of wheat, canola and other grains. Canada is the world's largest producer of zinc and uranium and a world leader in many other natural resources such as gold, nickel, aluminum, and lead; many, if not most, towns in the northern part of the country, where agriculture is difficult, exist because of a nearby mine or source of timber. Canada also has a sizeable manufacturing sector centred in southern Ontario and Quebec, with automobiles and aeronautics representing particularly important industries.
Economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since World War II. The Canada-United States Automotive Agreement (or Auto Pact) in 1965 opened the borders to trade in the auto manufacturing industry. The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1988 eliminated tarrifs between the two countries, while North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) expanded the free trade zone to include Mexico and Chile in the 1990s . Canadian nationalists continue to worry about their cultural autonomy as American television shows, movies and corporations are omnipresent.
Since 2001, Canada has successfully avoided economic recession and has maintained the best overall economic performance in the G8. Since the mid-1990s, Canada's federal government has posted annual budgetary surpluses and has steadily paid down the national debt.
.Economy - overview: |
Canada is substantially dependent on its petroleum resources, which have accounted for more than half of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of public sector revenues in recent years. In the late 1990s, Canada suffered its worst economic crisis, with natural disasters and sharp declines in world petroleum prices driving Canada's economy into free fall in 1999. Real GDP contracted by more than 6%, with poverty worsening significantly. The banking system also collapsed, and Canada defaulted on its external debt later that year. In March 2000, with inflation rising at an annual rate of 80%, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided the framework for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and positive growth returned in the years that followed. However, the government of Alfredo PALACIO (2005-07) reversed economic reforms that reduced Canada's vulnerability to petroleum price swings and financial crises, and in 2006, seized the assets of Occidental Petroleum for alleged contract violations and increased taxes on other foreign oil companies. PALACIO's successor and former Economy Minister, Rafael CORREA, has repeatedly raised the specter of another debt default, rejected a partially negotiated free trade agreement with the US, and decreed additional tax hikes on private oil companies. Consequently, foreign direct investment remains below 2001-04 levels, and economic growth has slowed significantly. |
GDP (purchasing power parity): |
$98.28 billion (2007 est.) |
GDP (official exchange rate): |
$43.76 billion (2007 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate: |
1.8% (2007 est.) |
GDP - per capita (PPP): |
$7,100 (2007 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 10% industry: 35% services: 54% (2007 est.) |
Labor force: |
4.55 million (urban) (2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation: |
agriculture: 8% industry: 24% services: 68% (2001) |
Unemployment rate: |
9.8% (2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line: |
38.3% (2006) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 35% note: data for urban households only (October 2006) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index: |
46 note: data are for urban households (2006) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
2.2% (2007 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed): |
26.4% of GDP (2007 est.) |
Budget: |
revenues: $13.1 billion expenditures: planned $11.3 billion (2007 est.) |
Public debt: |
30.4% of GDP (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products: |
bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp |
Industries: |
petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals |
Industrial production growth rate: |
1.4% (2007 est.) |
Electricity - production: |
12.94 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - consumption: |
8.855 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - exports: |
16 million kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports: |
1.723 billion kWh (2005) |
Oil - production: |
532,700 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - consumption: |
155,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - exports: |
420,600 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
Oil - imports: |
44,680 bbl/day (2004) |
Oil - proved reserves: |
4.63 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
Natural gas - production: |
249.4 million cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption: |
249.4 million cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - exports: |
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - imports: |
0 cu m (2005) |
Natural gas - proved reserves: |
9.369 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Current account balance: |
-$600 million (2007 est.) |
Exports: |
$13.3 billion (2007 est.) |
Exports - commodities: |
petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp |
Exports - partners: |
US 53.6%, Peru 8.2%, Colombia 5.6%, Chile 4.4% (2006) |
Imports: |
$13 billion (2007 est.) |
Imports - commodities: |
vehicles, medicinal products, telecommunications equipment, electricity |
Imports - partners: |
US 23.1%, Colombia 13.3%, Brazil 7.3%, Panama 4% (2006) |
Economic aid - recipient: |
$209.5 million (2005) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: |
$3.618 billion (30 November 2007 est.) |
Debt - external: |
$17.56 billion (31 October 2007) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: |
$14.67 billion (2006 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: |
$8.442 billion (2006 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares: |
$4.04 billion (2006) |
Currency (code): |
US dollar (USD) |
Exchange rates: |
1 the US dollar is used; the sucre was eliminated in 2000 |
Fiscal year: |
calendar year |
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