Investment in the economy can be made by businesses, governments, and non-profit institutions which add to the capital stock for the production of goods and services in an economy. Investment can include capital investment in business expansion, maintenance and renewal construction, infrastructure, venture capital, and more.
Alberta has one of Canada’s highest levels of investment and has led the country in per-capita investment for most of the past decade. Historically, Alberta's high levels of non-residential investment can be attributed to Alberta’s vast oil and gas sector.
Key indicators
Additional Indicators
Insights
Alberta's non-residential investment per capita highest in Canada
One method to gain a better understanding of the scale of investment occurring across jurisdictions is to look at the amount of non-residential investment per capita, meaning the amount of capital investment per resident. In 2025, Alberta's per capita investment spending was $15,123, which was the second highest per capita spending of the provinces and 61% higher than the Canadian average of $9,286 per capita.
Alberta's capital investment by sector
The data on Alberta's investment by sector reveals that although the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas sector has the highest level of investment, other sectors such as transportation and warehousing have seen strong growth, with investment in industrial warehouses and distribution centers in the Edmonton and Calgary regions propelling investment to its highest levels since the data series began.
Capital investment grows in select sectors
Non-residential capital investment in 2025 was up 0.8% over the previous year. Mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction, Alberta's largest sector, decreased by 1.6% to $32.3 billion in capital investments. Significant increases were seen in transportation and warehousing (up 20.1 per cent to $8.1 billion), construction (up 24.6 per cent to $3.7 billion), educational services (up 21.5 per cent to $1.9 billion), health care and social assistance (up 25.5 per cent to $1.5 billion), information and cultural industries (up 66.2 per cent to $1.3 billion), arts, entertainment and recreation (up 34.1 per cent to $1.1 billion), and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (up 48 per cent to $828.1 million). These increases were offset by significant decreases, most notably utilities (down 24.3 per cent to $5.1 billion), manufacturing (down 14.3 per cent to $4.8 billion, primarily driven by a 19.9 per cent decrease in chemical manufacturing to $2.1 billion), wholesale trade (down 21.7 per cent to $755.8 million), professional, scientific and technical services (down 32.8 per cent to $402.4 million), and accommodation and food services (down 30.4 per cent to $392.1 million), among other industries.
Trends show increasing investment outside oil and gas, diversifying the economy
Jurisdictions with a more diversified economy are better equipped to navigate recessions which may heavily impact certain sectors more than others. Overall, investment within Alberta has generally decreased since 2014 when oil and gas investment made up a significant portion of investment figures. However, when we observe all other sectors outside of the oil and gas sector, we can see that non-oil and gas investment trend is increasing with the 2025 figures remaining strong. This increased investment outside oil and gas is helping Alberta diversify its economy.