Total RRSP contributions increased in 2016, but the number of contributors declined, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
Canadian taxpayers contributed $40.4 billion to their RRSPs in 2016, which was up 3.1% from 2015, StatsCan reports, based on data gleaned from tax filings. The median contribution in 2016 was $3,000, which is unchanged since 2013.
However, despite the increase in total contributions, the number of taxpayers that made contributions dropped by 0.9% from the previous year, to just over 5.9 million. StatsCan notes that the number of contributors peaked in 2007 at almost 6.3 million. With the decline in contributors, the percentage of taxpayers who contributed also continued to slide, to 22.5% in 2016 from 22.9% in 2015.
Separately, StatsCan also reported that the number of taxpayers who reported investment income in 2016, and the total amount of investment income, declined from the previous year. More than 7.3 million taxpayers reported income from investments in 2016, down by 2.2% in 2015. Total investment income dropped by 16.8% during the year to $68.9 billion.