Changes in Per-Person GDP (Income): 1985 to 2023

Real GDP per person is a broad measure of incomes (and consequently living standards). This paper analyzes changes in quarterly per-person GDP, adjusted for inflation from 1985 through to the end of 2023, the most recent data available at the time of writing.
The study assesses the length (number of quarters) as well the percentage decline and the length of time required to recover the income lost during the decline.
Over the period covered (1985 to 2023), Canada experienced nine periods of decline and recovery in real GDP per person.
Of those nine periods, three (Q2 1989 to Q3 1994, Q3 2008 to Q4 2011, and Q2 2019 to Q2 2022) were most severe when comparing the length and depth of the declines along with number of quarters required for real GDP per person to recover.
The experience following Q2 2019 is unlike any decline and recovery since 1985 because, though per person GDP recovered for one quarter in Q2 2022, it immediately began declining again and by Q4 2023 remains below the level in Q2 2019.
This lack of meaningful recovery suggests that since mid-2019, Canada has experienced one of the longest and deepest declines in real GDP per person since 1985, exceeded only by the decline and recovery from Q2 1989 to Q3 1994.
If per-capita GDP does not recover in 2024, this period may be the longest and largest decline in per-person GDP over the last four decades.