Census of Trusteed Pension Funds, 2012
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Released: 2014-06-03
About 5.2 million Canadian workers had pension assets managed by trusteed pension funds in 2012, up 2.7% from 2010.
The Census of Trusteed Pension Funds, conducted every two years, tracks the number of funds, membership and financial information of trusteed pension funds. Data are available by sector (public or private), type of plan and contributory status.
The number of trusteed pension funds in Canada reached 8,875 in 2012, up 12.8% from 2010.
The overall membership numbers were split between public sector pension funds, which reported 3.1 million members, a 2.3% increase over 2010, and private sector pension funds with 2.1 million members, up 3.2%.
Membership in defined benefit pension funds fell 1.2% between 2010 and 2012 to 4.2 million, following a 0.5% decline between 2008 and 2010. Membership in defined contribution pension funds, in turn, increased 15.2% to 340,400.
The value of pension fund assets grew 14.8% from 2010 to $1.2 trillion in 2012. The assets of defined benefit pension funds accounted for 87.7% of total pension funds assets.
Revenues over the two-year period rose 26.2% to $128.8 billion. Employer and employee contributions increased 15.9%. Investment income grew 22.4% and gains from profits on the sale of securities rose 58.3%.
Pension fund expenditures rose 10.5% to $61.6 billion, principally as a result of a 13.2% increase in pension benefit payments.
In 2012, 6.1 million Canadian workers were members of employer-sponsored pension plans. Of this group, 5.2 million workers belonged to pension plans that had assets managed by trusteed funds. The remaining members had assets managed by insurance company contracts.
Note to readers
Data in this release refer only to trusteed pension funds.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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