Chain Fisher Volume Index Methodology - ARCHIVED

On May 31, 2001, the quarterly income and expenditure accounts adopted the Chain Fisher Index formula, chained quarterly, as the official measure of real gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of expenditures. This formula was also adopted for the Provincial Accounts on October 31, 2002.

There were two reasons for adopting this formula: to provide users with a more accurate measure of real GDP growth between two consecutive periods and to make the Canadian measure comparable with the Income and Product Accounts of the United States, which has used the Chain Fisher Index formula since 1996 to measure real GDP.