GDP measures the total value of final goods and services produced over a specific time-period in a jurisdiction. Typically, GDP and GDP growth are used to evaluate an economy’s overall economic strength.
An increase in GDP is a signal that the economy is growing and producing more goods and services, while a decrease indicates that an economy is shrinking and producing less. Changes in GDP across time periods can be affected by many factors, such as rising and falling interest rates, changes in demand, and government policies.
There are three approaches measuring GDP (output, expenditure, and income) and two primary GDP indicators released by Statistics Canada at the provincial level:
- GDP at basic prices: measures the value of all goods and services produced, plus taxes on production (which excludes income tax) but excluding subsidies on production. GDP estimates are provided at the industry level.
- GDP at market prices: measured as GDP at basic prices plus taxes (including income tax) less subsidies on products. While this indicator doesn’t include information by industry, it does include information such as total and net international and interprovincial exports, investment, household consumption, and other categories.
Statistics Canada releases GDP at basic prices for the previous year in May and GDP at market prices in November.
Additionally, GDP can be shown in current dollars, which can be used to show the actual size of the economy in a given period, or in chained and constant dollars, which account for price changes over time and are used to calculate real GDP growth rates between periods.
Key indicators
Insights
Diverse sectoral contribution to Alberta's GDP
Alberta is known for its abundant natural resources, particularly its vast oil and natural gas reserves. The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector makes up the largest proportion of Alberta's GDP, followed by the real estate and rental and leasing, construction, and manufacturing sectors.
The data below is at basic prices. See more Alberta GDP data at basic prices, see here.
Alberta's GDP per capita is highest among Canadian provinces
Alberta’s GDP per capita, which measures the economic output per person and is often used as an indicator of a jurisdiction’s standard of living, is the highest among Canada’s provinces. Part of this is due to Alberta’s natural resource wealth and the high output of the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector. In 2023, Alberta’s per capita GDP was $70,705.
See more Alberta GDP per capita data here.