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1 in 4 Canadians Can Only Afford the Minimum Payment on Their Credit Card

  Published August 24, 2026 · Canadian Money Brief A new survey from Equifax Canada puts a hard number on something a lot of us have felt creeping up all year: credit cards are doing more of the heavy lifting in Canadian budgets, and fewer people are paying them off. Of more than 1,500 Canadians surveyed, a quarter said they expect to make only the minimum monthly payment on their credit card, and another 7% think they'll fall behind entirely. That leaves just over half — 56% — who expect to pay their balance in full each month. The survey also found that 40% of respondents are spending more overall than they were a year ago, more than double the 18% who say they're spending less. Nearly 3 in 10 said they're leaning more heavily on credit cards to cover essentials like groceries and utilities, and close to a quarter are dipping into savings to keep up with everyday costs. More than a third have cut back on contributions to savings, investments, or education funds to make ro...
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Canada’s Population Growth and the National Bank of Canada’s Report

 

According to a report by the National Bank of Canada, Canada is caught in a “population trap” for the first time in modern history and needs to limit immigration to escape it. A population trap is when the population is growing so fast that all available savings are needed to maintain the existing capital-labour ratio, making any increase in living standards impossible. 

National Bank’s report joins the growing chorus of concern that the influx of newcomers over the past two years, many of whom are temporary workers or students, is too much for the economy to handle.

Canada’s population grew by 1.2 million in 2023, a “staggering” amount when you consider that the next biggest surge was when Newfoundland joined the nation in 1949. From a global perspective, Canada’s population growth of 3.2% last year was five times higher than the average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations. 

The economists say that Canada currently lacks the infrastructure and capital stock to adequately absorb current population growth and improve its standard of living. The strain is most evident in housing, with National saying the shortfall has reached a record of only one housing start for every 4.2 people entering the working-age population. Government programs are underway to address this, but to meet demand and reduce housing inflation, Canada would need to double its housing construction capacity to about 700,000 starts a year.
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