Greetings,

I am looking for a statistic on percentage (or absolute number) of
people having RRSP accounts in general and self-managed RRSP accounts
as a sub-set study. I am also curious on how those numbers change
throughout years and if there is a tendency.

The second part of the question would be statistic on how many people
have DB (define benefits) plans with their Canadian employers and how
this number is changing throughout years.

Thank you.

"Four in five RPP members belong to a defined benefit plan"

"Pension Plans in Canada" by Pensions and Wealth Surveys Section,
Statistics Canada (January 1, 2003)
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/13F0026MIE/13F0026MIE2004001.pdf

"Nearly two-thirds of Canadian taxfilers aged 20 to 59 contributed to
a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) at least once during the
1990s."

"Overall, the number of people contributing to RRSPs increased by more
than 25% between 1993 and 2001."

"Study: using RRSP's before retirement" Statistics Canada (December
15, 2004) http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/041215/d041215d.htm

"Canadians increased their contributions to a Registered Retirement
Savings Plan (RRSP) in the 2003 tax year for the first time in three
years. The number of contributors declined slightly."

"Registered retirement savings plan contributions" Statistics Canada
(November 2, 2004) http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/041102/d041102b.htm

"In total, Canadians had accumulated an estimated $1.15 trillion in
the three main retirement programs - RPPs, RRSPs, and the Canada and
Quebec Pension Plans (C/QPP) - by the end of 2001. This was almost
double the level of $593.6 billion in 1990, when measured in constant
(inflation-adjusted) dollars. Of the total assets in 2001, 69% were in
RPPs, 25% in RRSPs (individual and group), and about 6% in the C/QPP."

"Study: Workers' knowledge of retirement plans" Statistics Canada
(January 23, 2004) http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040123/d040123b.htm

The following resource provides a number of statistics on pension
plans and RRSPs that may be of interest to you:

"Canada's retirement income programs" Statistics Canada (November 17,
2003) http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/031117/d031117a.htm

"Table 111-0039 summarizes Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)
contributions, by contributor characteristics at the national,
provincial, territorial, and census metropolitan area of geography."

"Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contributions, by
contributor characteristics" Statistics Canada (March 10, 2004)
http://www.statcan.ca/english/CANSIM/communique/2004031028048.htm

Table 111-0039 is found at
http://cansim2.statcan.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.exe?Lang=E&RootDir=CII/&ResultTemplate=CII/CII___&SDDSLOC=//dissemination.statcan.ca/english/sdds/*.htm&Array_Pick=1&TblDetail=1&Arrayid=1110039.

I have been unable to locate any data specifically breaking out "self
managed" or "self-directed" RRSPs specifically using Google or the
Statistics Canada web site.

I hope the above information meets your needs.

Sincerely,

Wonko

---

Request for Answer Clarification by babushkaya-ga on 07 Apr 2005 10:48 PDT

Hi,

Thank you for your answer. I visited Statistic Canada before and
couldn't find a breakdown between Managed and Self-Managed RRSP and
this is of the main interest to me.

If you could be able to respond to the second part of the question
(breakdown between DB and DC in Canada throughout years) I would rate
you answer very highly.

Regards.

---

Clarification of Answer by wonko-ga on 13 Apr 2005 11:11 PDT

Pages 11 and 12 of the following reference provide figures for several
years for the number of members of defined benefit plans and the
number of members of defined contribution plans the form of charts. 
You can obtain the percentage of each type by adding the figures from
the two charts for each year together and then dividing the value of
each chart for that year by that total.  Using this method one comes
to the conclusion in the report that in 2003, "Four in five RPP
members belong to a defined benefit plan."

"In Canada, defined benefit plans have the largest number of members.
As of January 1, 2003, there were just over 4.5 million members, or
82% of all persons covered, in 6,777 defined benefit plans.

The majority of defined benefit plan members are employed in the
public sector (Chart 2).  The number of members in defined benefit
plans in the public sector has increased since 1999, after
experiencing a decline in the previous years.

In the private sector the number of members in defined benefit plans
reached a low in 1998, one year earlier than in the public sector.
This was followed by an increase in membership until the end of 2001
when the membership began declining again.

During the 1990s, defined contribution plans experienced the greatest
change in both number of plans and members. Although since January 1,
1993, the number of these plans has fallen by about 16% (from 8,713 to
7,347), the number of members rose sharply to more than 830,000 at the
start of 2003, some 1.8 times higher than in 1993.  This rise in
defined contribution plan membership is observed in both the public
sector and the private sector.

As of January 1, 2003, the majority?83%?of members in defined contribution plans
were working in the private sector (Chart 3). However, since 1996,
growth in the number of members in this type of plan is observed in
both sectors."

"Pension Plans in Canada" by Pensions and Wealth Surveys Section,
Statistics Canada (January 1, 2003)
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/13F0026MIE/13F0026MIE2004001.pdf

Sincerely,

Wonko

Thank you very much for the great answer!