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Canada's natural resource wealth, 2016

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Released: 2018-01-17

Canada's natural resource wealth

$ 372 billion

2016

-11.6% decrease

(annual change)

Lower oil and mineral prices combined to drive down the value of natural resource assets in 2016. Overall, the value of Canada's natural resource assets totalled $372 billion, down 12% from 2015. The decrease followed a 60% decline a year earlier.

Timber resources accounted for 58% of the value of all natural resource assets in 2016, followed by energy (25%) and mineral resources (17%).

Energy resource assets, which consist of coal, crude bitumen, crude oil and natural gas, fell 14% from 2015 to $93 billion in 2016. The decline followed an 86% drop the previous year. In 2016, the decrease was the result of a drop in crude bitumen prices.

The value of mineral assets fell 42% to $64 billion in 2016, after declining 3% a year earlier. In general, the decline was attributable to lower commodity prices compared with the previous year. A drop in potash values made the largest contribution to the decrease.

The value of timber assets increased 6% in 2016, following a 17% increase in 2015.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Natural resource assets, 2006 to 2016
Natural resource assets, 2006 to 2016

  Note to readers

Natural resource wealth estimates have been incorporated into the annual estimates of national wealth at the aggregate level for several years, however, Statistics Canada formally integrated natural resource wealth into the quarterly national balance sheet accounts (NBSA) in December 2015.

The annual estimates provide resource detail and complement the resource wealth estimates in the quarterly NBSA found in CANSIM table 378-0121.

Additional information on the treatment of natural resource wealth in the NBSA is available in the article "Natural resource wealth statistics in the National Balance Sheet Accounts."

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; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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