Chapter 3
Economic sectors in Canada

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In the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA), the total economy of Canada is divided into six mutually exclusive sectors that categorize all resident economic units. They are the

  1. Non-financial corporations sector
  2. Financial corporations sector
  3. Government sector
  4. Households sector
  5. Non-profit institutions serving households sector
  6. Unincorporated business sector.

Each sector aggregates a specific type of economic activity for statistical measurement. As well, the sectors are partitioned into sub-sectors, components and sub-components in order to isolate and group units of similar behaviour. Using the financial corporations sector as an example, one stream of activity is followed through finer levels of segregation.

Sector: Financial corporations Sub-sector: Other depository corporations Component: Near banks Sub-components: Credit unions and Caisses populaires Trust companies, mortgage and loan companies

A complete list of the Canadian System of National Accounts' (CSNA) classification of units by sector can be found in Appendix B.

Economic units with similar characteristics are also grouped to form broader statistical aggregations. For example, units in the non-financial corporations sector, the financial corporations sector and the unincorporated business sector are combined to form the Business Sector. Another grouping combines units in the non-financial corporations sector and the financial corporations sector to form the Corporate Sector. All government controlled units are combined to form the Public Sector. This aggregation is composed of government sector units and all publicly controlled non-financial and financial corporations (government business enterprises).

Chart 3.1 Selected sectoral domains. Opens a new browser window.

Chart 3.1
Selected sectoral domains