What was Canada's federal debt level at the end of FY2024–25 and how did it change year-over-year?
Executive summary
Canada’s federal net debt stood at roughly $1.06 trillion at the most recent year marker, rising markedly year‑over‑year; Statistics Canada reports the federal government's net debt totalled $1,062.0 billion in 2024, an increase of $85.9 billion (+8.8%) from 2023 [1]. Finance Canada and the Parliamentary Budget Office use that 2024–25 starting point to describe a federal debt‑to‑GDP ratio around 41.2 per cent for 2024–25, a figure underpinning official medium‑term projections [2].
1. What the headline numbers are and where they come from
The clearest publicly reported magnitude comes from Statistics Canada: federal government net debt increased by $85.9 billion, or 8.8 percent, to reach $1,062.0 billion in 2024 [1]. At the consolidated government level, Statistics Canada shows Canadian general government gross debt rose to $3,385.2 billion in 2024, up $262.0 billion (+8.4%), and general government net debt increased by $135.3 billion to $1,605.2 billion (+9.2%)—figures that put the federal component in the context of broader government liabilities [1]. Budget documents and Debt Strategy material frame those numbers for policy: Budget 2025 and the 2024–25 Debt Management Strategy treat 2024–25 as the base year for debt‑to‑GDP calculations and borrowing plans [3] [2].
2. How the year‑over‑year change breaks down
The roughly $86 billion year‑on‑year increase in federal net debt recorded by Statistics Canada reflects both higher outstanding liabilities and the cost of refinancing at higher interest rates: Statistics Canada attributes much of 2024’s debt growth to an increase in debt securities and higher market‑valuation liabilities (+$253.1 billion for debt securities) as well as higher interest expenses tied to a larger stock of debt [1]. The Department of Finance’s annual financial report signals improvement in the budgetary balance—the annual operating deficit before net actuarial losses narrowed to $32.3 billion in 2024–25 from $54.4 billion in 2023–24—yet public debt charges rose to about $53.4 billion in 2024–25, up $6.1 billion (13.0%) reflecting higher average rates and more bonds outstanding [4]. Those dynamics—smaller operating deficits but larger stock and servicing costs—help explain why net debt still rose substantially [4] [1].
3. The ratio that matters: debt‑to‑GDP and official framing
Officials anchor the fiscal story to ratios as well as dollar amounts: Finance Canada and subsequent budget analysis use 2024–25 as the initial debt ratio year and report a federal debt‑to‑GDP ratio of about 41.2 per cent in 2024–25, which is then used in medium‑ and long‑term projections [2]. Departmental projections stress that while interest rates moderated in 2024, public debt charges remain elevated as a share of spending and that medium‑term borrowing needs and policy choices will determine whether the ratio stabilizes or rises further [2] [5].
4. Where reporting diverges and what remains uncertain
Official accounts and Statistics Canada converge on a clear increase in nominal debt, but different measures produce different narratives: “net debt” (liabilities minus financial assets) and “gross debt” (total liabilities) tell complementary stories, and consolidated government figures differ from federal‑only tallies [1]. The Annual Financial Report supplies operating deficit and debt‑servicing details through FY2024–25 but the authoritative year‑end federal net debt number used here is drawn from Statistics Canada’s calendar‑year 2024 reporting and from Budget 2025’s framing of 2024–25 as the baseline—sources do not provide a single line labelled “federal debt at end of FY2024–25” that isolates fiscal‑year accounting conventions from calendar‑year or consolidated measures, so some reconciliation across reporting conventions is necessary [4] [1] [2].
5. Bottom line
Using Statistics Canada’s reporting and the government’s own budget framing, Canada’s federal net debt was about $1.062 trillion in 2024, an increase of $85.9 billion (+8.8%) year‑over‑year, and that level corresponds to an initial federal debt‑to‑GDP ratio of roughly 41.2 per cent for 2024–25 that officials have used in projections [1] [2]. The rise reflects larger outstanding debt securities and higher interest costs even as the operating deficit narrowed, and differing accounting measures (net vs gross, federal vs consolidated, calendar vs fiscal year) explain much of the apparent complexity in public reporting [1] [4].