Canada’s income gap reaches record high, Statistics Canada finds

Statistics Canada says the income gap between the country’s highest and lowest income households reached a record high in the first quarter of 2025.

The agency says the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 per cent of the income distribution and the bottom 40 per cent grew to 49 percentage points in the first three months of the year.

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Statistics Canada says the measure has increased each year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the first quarter of 2025, it says the increase came as the highest income households gained from investments, while the lowest income households saw wages decline.

Those in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution saw the weakest growth in disposable income in the first quarter at 3.2 per cent compared with a year ago as their average wages edged down 0.7 per cent.

The average disposable income for those in the top 20 per cent of the income distribution increased at the fastest pace of any income group in the first quarter of 2025 as they benefited from a 7.7 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.