AI Analysis: Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by industry, monthly

Executive Summary

This Statistics Canada dataset (Table 36100434) tracks monthly GDP by industry across 249 NAICS categories from 1997 to 2026, revealing steady long-term economic growth alongside sharp pandemic-era disruptions. Canada's total GDP rose 84.8% from $1.27 trillion in 1998 to $2.34 trillion by 2026, though the industry-level data is highly right-skewed, with a few large aggregates dwarfing hundreds of smaller sub-sectors. Services-producing industries consistently outpace goods-producing ones, underscoring Canada's service-driven economy.

Key Findings

• Canada's all-industries GDP grew 84.8% over nearly 28 years, from $1.27 trillion (1998) to $2.34 trillion (2026).
• The dataset is heavily right-skewed: median industry GDP is $4,636 million versus a mean of $35,406 million, driven by large aggregate categories.
• Services-producing industries generate more GDP than goods-producing industries, reflecting the dominance of Canada's service sector.
• Sound recording industries [5122] is the smallest tracked sector at just $315 million, compared to $1.63 trillion for the 'All industries' total.
• Most industries show strong positive correlation over time, indicating they respond similarly to broad economic cycles like growth and recession.
• Monthly GDP growth averages 0.19% with 0.91% standard deviation, but 4 months showed outlier swings beyond 3 standard deviations, likely tied to COVID-19 disruptions in 2020.
• The middle 50% of industry GDP values fall between $1,212 million and $15,534 million, highlighting a wide gap between typical sub-sectors and economy-wide totals.