Household debt in G7 context
Canadian households carry the most debt in the G7 by a wide margin. On the OECD-comparable indicator, Canada sat at roughly 173% of disposable income in Q4 2025. That is about 43 percentage points above the United Kingdom, 73 above the United States, and 88 above Germany. No other G7 country sits within 40 points of Canada.
Related metrics. Three companion pages break the same balance sheet down further. See also:
- Mortgage delinquencies — the mortgage-specific arrears picture, in G7 context, including the regional and provincial cuts.
- Consumer loan arrears — the non-mortgage breakdown: auto, credit card, and instalment loans.
- Household credit stress — the synthesising view: debt-service burden and overall financial-stress rate.
The gap has been wide for more than a decade and has barely narrowed. On Statistics Canada's SDG 1.3.1 measure, the one used for the G7 comparison, Canada's ratio peaked at 191% in 2018 and has eased only modestly, while peers have flatlined. Roughly 73% of Canadian household debt is mortgages, which makes this a housing exposure rather than a consumption one. So much of the household balance sheet sits on a single asset class that rate shocks and real-estate corrections pass straight through to it.
Canada, Q4 2025
173%
Household debt as % of disposable income. Statistics Canada SDG 1.3.1.
G7 ranking
#1
+43 pts above the UK; +73 above the US; +88 above Germany. No other G7 economy within 40 points.
Mortgage share
73%
Of all household credit market debt. The leverage sits on one asset class.
How Canada compares in the G7
Debt-to-disposable-income is the OECD standard cross-country indicator. It expresses household liabilities against the income stream that has to service them, which is what determines whether the debt is sustainable.
Source: OECD (Jan 2026 release for 2024); Statistics Canada (SDG 1.3.1, Q4 2025), ONS, IMF, national central banks for 2025 estimates.
| Rank | Country | Debt / disposable income (%) |
|---|
The G7 picture. Canadian households are about 43 percentage points more leveraged than the next-highest G7 peer (the UK) and roughly 73 points above the United States. The gap to Germany, long Europe's fiscal anchor, is nearly 90 points. Nothing in the 2024-to-2025 changes moves the picture.
Ten years of G7 household leverage
Spreading the comparison across a decade strips out single-year noise and shows the structural gap clearly. Canada has been at or near 180% of disposable income for the entire period 2015–2025, peaking near 191% in 2018. Every other G7 economy has stayed below 140% the entire time. The UK deleveraged from ~136% to ~118% and Italy edged up from ~65% to ~80%, but neither comes close to closing the gap.
Source: Canada — Statistics Canada SDG 1.3.1 (Q4). Peers — reconstructed from OECD, BIS, IMF, and national central banks (ONS, Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of Japan). Annual values rounded to nearest percentage point. See methodology note below.
Canada's debt has roughly doubled in a generation
Canadian household leverage has been climbing for four decades. It stood at 66 cents of debt per dollar of disposable income in 1980, passed 100% in the mid-1990s, passed 150% during the global financial crisis, and reached an all-time peak of 188.2% in the third quarter of 2022 on the national balance sheet measure of credit market debt, and stood at 177.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025. That is a different series from the SDG 1.3.1 measure used for the G7 comparison, which peaked at 190.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and was 173.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The dip after that peak reflects faster nominal income growth rather than deleveraging. Debt has grown in absolute terms every year since 2022.
House prices did most of the work. Sustained appreciation from the early 2000s onward required ever-larger mortgages, and low policy rates between the global financial crisis and 2022 made carrying them feel affordable. The post-2022 rate cycle ended that. The debt-service ratio reached 15.3% of disposable income in 2023, near all-time highs, with a growing share of each payment going to interest rather than principal.
Source: Statistics Canada National Balance Sheet Accounts (Table 38-10-0238); OECD historical series. Pre-2000 figures are approximations from OECD historical commentary.
Mortgages, not credit cards
Mortgages make up about 73% of all household credit market debt in Canada, a share comparable to Australia (~80%) and the United Kingdom (~78%), and well above Japan (~60%) or France (~65%). Total non-mortgage borrowing in 2025 was $30.7 billion, down nearly a quarter from $43.5 billion in 2024. Households are pulling back on discretionary credit even as mortgage balances grow.
The implication: Canada's household debt vulnerability is fundamentally a housing-market vulnerability. Stress tests that focus on credit-card delinquency will miss the dominant transmission channel.
Source: Statistics Canada (Canada Q4 2025); RBA, Bank of England, Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of Japan (latest available, 2024).
The takeaway. Canada's leverage is high because it is mortgage debt, and mortgage debt tracks the housing market. The G7 gap has been wide for more than a decade and has barely narrowed.
Findings
Finding 1
Canada has the highest household debt in the G7
At roughly 173% of disposable income (Q4 2025), Canada sits about 43 percentage points above the next-highest G7 peer and ~88 points above Germany. No other G7 economy is within 40 points.
Finding 2
The gap to peers is structural, not cyclical
Canada has sat at or near 180% for the entire 2015–2025 window, peaking at 191% in 2018, while every other G7 economy stayed below 140%. Roughly 73% of Canadian household debt is residential mortgages.
Finding 3
Both measures show the same ranking
Whether measured against disposable income or GDP, Canada ranks first in the G7. On debt-to-GDP Canada is at ~103%, ahead of the UK (~81%), the US (~69%), Japan (~65%), France (~61%), Germany (~50%) and Italy (~37%). The choice of measure changes the gap only at the margins.
Verdict
Weak
StrongWatchWeak
Canadian households carry the most debt in the G7, at roughly 173% of disposable income in Q4 2025, and no other G7 country sits within 40 points.
- Compared with
- The G7, on household debt as a share of disposable income, 2025.
- Where Canada sits
- Last of seven, with lower debt treated as better, at about 173% of disposable income. That is 73 points above the United States and 88 above Germany.
- Which way it is moving
- Down. The ratio has eased from its peak to 173% in Q4 2025, which the page attributes to faster nominal income growth rather than deleveraging. Debt has grown in absolute terms every year since 2022.
- What the verdict follows
- Position in the peer set. The ratio has eased, but no peer is within 40 points, so the verdict reflects the level.
- Data basis
- Statistics Canada SDG 1.3.1 (Q4 2025) for Canada, OECD (Jan 2026 release for 2024), and ONS, IMF, and national central banks for 2025 peer estimates. Page last reviewed June 2026, data current to Q4 2025, the latest published by Statistics Canada.
Sources & methodology
Primary sources
OECD household debt indicator — cross-country comparisons.
Statistics Canada — SDG indicator 1.3.1 — debt-to-disposable-income (Q4).
IMF Global Debt Database — debt-to-GDP series.
BIS Debt Service Ratios database — household stress measures.
National central banks for peer series: ONS, Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of Japan, RBA.
Page last reviewed June 2026 · Data current to Q4 2025 — the latest published by Statistics Canada
Licences and attribution. Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 38-10-0238 and SDG indicator 1.3.1. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. OECD data is used under the OECD Terms and Conditions; the dataset and its link are given under Primary sources above. Source: International Monetary Fund. Other figures are cited with their source identified at the chart or table that uses them. Full terms: sources and licences.
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