Canada General Government Gross Debt to GDP

## What this measures

Everything Canada's federal, provincial, territorial and local governments owe, including pension liabilities, as a percent of GDP.

## Why it matters

It is the broadest measure of the public debt load, and the one closest to how other countries report gross debt.

## How to read it

It is much higher than the net figure (canada.gov.net_financial_liabilities_pct_gdp), which subtracts the financial assets governments hold, including the Canada Pension Plan funds. Canadian debate usually quotes net debt.

## What it does not say

These are national-accounts figures (Statistics Canada), not the federal budget measures Finance Canada reports, and they include unfunded public-sector pension liabilities. Compare countries only with the same definition.

## Source

Statistics Canada, table 38-10-0237-01 (vector v62698056), "Financial indicators of general government sector, national balance sheet accounts; General government gross debt to gross domestic product (GDP)". Palanor pulls it from Statistics Canada's Web Data Service every day and rewrites recent periods so revisions carry through.

Source: Statistics Canada. Reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada Open Licence.