Canadians have accumulated an estimated $1.15 million in registered pensions, RRSPs and government pensions.

In its review of Canada’s retirement income programs, Statistics Canada says that from the end of 1990 to the end 2001, RRSP savings rose from $131.85 billion to $292.5 billion, RPPs jumped from $395.9 billion to $794.1 billion, as government pensions slipped from $65.8 billion to $64.7 billion.

RPPs now account for 69% of savings, up from 66.7%. RRSPs are up to 25.4% from 22.2%, while government pensions have slipped to 5.6% from 11.1%.

Stats Can reports that the value of assets in RPPs peaked at almost $826.4 billion in 2000, then fell slightly to about $794.1 billion in 2001. This was due in part to falling stock prices that resulted in a devaluation of fund assets. As of Jan. 1, 2002, just under 5.5 million members, or about 40% of total paid workers, were participating in 13,861 registered pension plans. This membership was an increase of 2.9% from 1992. At that time, RPPs covered 5.3 million paid workers, or about 45% of the total, in 18,028 registered plans.

The survey found that at the end of 2001, about 2.5 million female workers belonged to an RPP, an increase from about 2.2 million in 1991. At the same time, the number of male workers covered by an RPP declined from 3.1 million to just under 3 million. The increase in female membership can be attributed to the growth in their labour force participation.

The majority of assets held in RPPs, about 72% in recent years, are in trusteed pension funds, which are invested in the capital markets. The remaining assets are held in government consolidated revenue funds, insurance companies and Government of Canada annuities. The value of trusteed pension fund assets increased 151% during the 1990s, from $223.8 billion in 1990 to $598.2 billion in 2000.

StatsCan says that the 1990s were a good period for trusteed pension funds, primarily because of the rise in stock prices. The S&P/TSX index rose 125% over the decade. As a result, net income went from an estimated $15 billion in 1990 to more than $56 billion in 2000.

As for RRSPs, StatsCan reports that in 2001, the total RRSP room available to taxfilers aged 25 to 64 reached $284.9 billion, a six-fold increase from 1991. Less than 9% of available contribution room has actually been used. In 2001, only 9% of taxfilers used 95% or more of their available RRSP room. The majority of these were aged 45 to 54, or had incomes greater than $40,000. About 40% of taxfilers using most of their room had an income of $80,000 or more, although this is down from 45% in 1999.

Not including transfers, RRSP normal contributions for taxfilers aged 25 to 64 peaked at $26.5 billion in 2000, a year marked by a strong stock market.

In 2000, women aged 25 to 64 contributed about $10 billion to an RRSP, up 8% from 1999, while men contributed $16.5 billion, up 0.2%. From 2000 to 2001, the number of contributors declined to 5.8 million taxfilers, while contributions fell to $24.9 billion.