RRSP contributions rose 5.3 % in 2007: Statistics Canada

Almost 6.3 million tax filers contributed to their registered retirement savings plans in 2007, up 1.6 per cent from 2006, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

Contributions rose 5.3 per cent to $34.1 billion in 2007.

The agency said the highest percentage increase in the number of RRSP investors was in Newfoundland and Labrador, up 5.3 per cent, while Quebec had the largest increase in number, at almost 25,700 contributors, or 1.6 per cent. The largest increase in the value of contributions was in Saskatchewan, at 12.8 per cent.

Of the almost 88 per cent of tax filers who were eligible to contribute to an RRSP in the 2007 financial year, only 31 per cent actually made contributions.

To be eligible to contribute to an RRSP, a tax filer must either have new room as a result of qualifying income from the previous year (generally employment income), or previously unused room.

The limit is based on 18 per cent of the previous tax year's earned income, to a fixed maximum, less any pension adjustment, plus any unused room carried forward from earlier years.

The fixed maximum in 2007 was $19,000, up from $18,000 in 2006, the report says.

The $34.1 billion in RRSP contributions in 2007 represented about six per cent of the total room available to eligible tax filers, the report says.

The median contribution was $2,780. The median is the point where half of the contributors invest more than $2,780 with the remainingputting in less than that figure.

The median RRSP contributions among territories and cities across Canada were:

• Nunavut $4,330.
• NWT $3,600.
• Calgary $3,770.
• Vancouver $3,470.
• Toronto $3,300.