Context
Canada in North America has a population of around 38 million people and covers almost 10 million square kilometers, making it the second largest country. It is considered to be a developed and industrialized country with quite a market-oriented system focused on oil and natural gas, with high standards of living.
GDP Analysis
Nominal GDP and real GDP both increased year-on-year from 2010-2014 and 2016-2019. In 2015, a series of wildfires in the oil sands region drastically reduced production, causing the country’s first recession since 2009 (GDP growth of -1.1%). In 2020, the COVID pandemic impacted the country, forcing business closures, but Canada was able to recover more strongly than other countries and only sustained a 1.5% decline in GDP to 2018-levels.
Real GDP per capita has also steadily increased throughout the period, and the two recessions each set back growth by 1 year. The changes during recessions have been slightly greater than the changes in Real GDP, because assuming an increase in population, a lower GDP will be spread across more people, lowering GDP per capita more than proportionally. However, while this may lead to a short-term drop in quality of life, Canada’s strong recovery should prevent this pandemic from hindering the country overall, as seen in the previous 2015 recession.
Table 1: Nominal GDP, Real GDP, Real GDP % Change & Real GDP per capita.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0104-01 Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, Canada, quarterly (x 1,000,000)
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610010401
Figure 1: Real GDP per capita (plotted on MS Excel)
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