Gap between Canada’s rich and poor increasing at record speed, new StatCan data shows

Income and wealth inequality among Canadian households is increasing at record speed amid inflation and rising interest rates, and younger households are bearing the financial burden, a new report from Statistics Canada shows. The gap in net worth between the most and least wealthy increased 1.1 percentage points in the first quarter relative to the same time a year before, marking the fastest increase on record. And it’s the least wealthy and younger households who are feeling the pinch of inflation particularly hard. Debt-to-income ratios for younger and core working-age groups were at their highest rates on record, and well above pre-pandemic rates at the end of 2019, the StatCan data shows. Statistics Canada in June reported that Canadians owed $1.85 for every dollar of disposable income in the first quarter of 2023.