Co-operatives in Canada, 2019

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Release date: March 3, 2021
Infographic: Co-operatives in Canada, 2019
Description: Co-operatives in Canada, 2019

Co-operatives in Canada, 2019

In 2019, there were 5,812 active, non-financial co-operatives in Canada, an increase of 1.5% from 2018.


Table 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 1. The information is grouped by Region (appearing as row headers), Count of active cooperatives, 2019 (appearing as column headers).
Region Count of active cooperatives, 2019
Alberta 490
British Columbia 453
Manitoba 268
New Brunswick 109
Newfoundland and Labrador 33
Nova Scotia 204
Ontario 1,104
Prince Edward Island 74
Quebec 2,578
Saskatchewan 459
Territories 43

More than half of non-financial co-operatives operated in three sectors.


Table 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 2. The information is grouped by Industry sector (appearing as row headers), Count of co-operatives, 2019 (appearing as column headers).
Industry sector Count of co-operatives, 2019
Real estate and rental and leasing 1,955 (33.6%)
Wholesale and retail trade 824 (14.2%)
Health care and social assistance 515 (8.8%)
Other 2, 518 (43.3%)

Though non-financial co-operatives employed 104,969 people, more than half of co-operatives were non-employers.


Table 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 3. The information is grouped by Employment size group (appearing as row headers), Count of active cooperatives, 2019 (appearing as column headers).
Employment size group Count of active cooperatives, 2019
No employees 3,070
1- 99 employees 2,568
100 -499 employees 150
500 employees or more 24

Non-profits made up 64.1% of all non-financial co-operatives, earning 4.7% of all revenue.


Table 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 4. The information is grouped by Non-profit status (appearing as row headers), Percent of active cooperatives, 2019 and Percent of revenue, 2019 (appearing as column headers).
Non-profit status Percent of active cooperatives, 2019 Percent of revenue, 2019
Non-profit 64.10% 4.70%

The growth of non-financial co-operatives continued through 2019.


Table 5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 5 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 (appearing as column headers).
2016 2017 2018 2019
Assets (billions of dollars) 38.0 39.2 42.6 45.6

Sources: List of non-financial co-operatives provided by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Canada’s national, provincial and territorial co-operative registries. All other data are from Statistics Canada’s Linkable File Environment and Business Register.

Report a problem on this page

Is something not working? Is there information outdated? Can't find what you're looking for?

Please contact us and let us know how we can help you.

Privacy notice

Date modified: