Measuring voluntary interhousehold transfers in Canada

Some households provide money, goods and services directly to help other households: these interhousehold transfers add up to a sizeable flow of economic resources between households. While measured by Statistics Canada surveys, voluntary interhousehold transfers are not included in the recipient household's total income. This article examines the conceptual and measurement issues related to voluntary interhousehold transfers, and provides a profile of voluntary interhousehold transfers in Canada. It uses recent data on interhousehold transfers from income, expenditure and wealth surveys.