Canada’s Growth Playbook: The 2025 National Scorecard

Sharper, more practical tool tracks 40 indicators and calls for a coherent population strategy, stronger delivery, and renewed public confidence

Toronto, October 22, 2025 – Today, Century Initiative released the fifth edition of its National Scorecard on Canada’s Growth and Prosperity, a comprehensive assessment of Canada’s performance across 40 indicators of prosperity. This year’s Scorecard shows clear warning signs—lagging productivity, eroding affordability, and uncertainty in Canada’s population growth strategy—and urges coordinated action to turn today’s pressures into tomorrow’s strengths. New this year, the full report includes a year-over-year comparison from 2021 to 2025, showing where Canada is improving, stalling, or slipping.

“Canada’s growth engine is stalling—and the public can feel it,” said Lisa Lalande, CEO of Century Initiative. “We need a coherent population strategy that aligns people, homes, infrastructure, and services and we need credible execution that Canadians can see. The Scorecard is designed as a practical tool to guide long-term planning while we take important actions today.”

This year’s Scorecard also introduces new indicators reflecting global risk and competitiveness, including total export market concentration, defence spending as a share of GDP, and cybersecurity preparedness. It updates measures across entrepreneurship, innovation, housing, family supports, and education/skills to provide a sharper, more timely read of what’s working and where course correction is overdue.

Key takeaways from the 2025 Scorecard:

• Build for today—plan for 2050
  With growth stalling and the median age rising, Canada needs a smart population plan that balances housing and services now while sustaining a skilled workforce, a resilient tax base, and competitiveness anchored in cross-government collaboration and real-time data.
• Turning strengths into results
  Canada’s talent and startup energy aren’t translating into growth. We lag peers on R&D, productivity, and scaling firms—eroding GDP per capita—so the next five years must focus on incentives for R&D and competition, support for scale-ups, and tighter links between education/training and high-value jobs.
• Compete to win talent
  Canada can seize a global opening—if immigration policy is stable, predictable, and competitive. A rules-based system that fuels workforce growth and innovation is essential to long-term fiscal resilience.
• Affordability, competitiveness, and resilience—one agenda
  Affordability isn’t just a pocketbook issue; it underpins productivity, social cohesion, and trust. A comprehensive plan on housing supply, household debt, wages, and inequality is critical to economic durability.
• National security starts with the economy
  Economic, demographic, and military security are inseparable. Meeting global commitments requires defence investment alongside modern data systems, deeper cybersecurity talent, and more diversified trade.

What’s new in the 5th edition

• Year-over-year comparison (2021–2025): clear, side-by-side results showing which indicators improved, stalled, or declined since the Scorecard’s first edition.
• Sharper framing: practical, timely, and responsive to today’s policy environment while keeping a clear long-term focus.
• Expanded indicator set: new measures on export concentration, defence spending, and cybersecurity preparedness alongside updated economic, social, and community indicators.
• Clear signal: categories show 5 Leading, 6 On Track, 16 Need Attention, and 13 Falling Behind, highlighting where urgency is highest.

Read the full report and Key Insights
Explore the interactive Scorecard

About Century Initiative

Century Initiative is a national, non-partisan charity shaping a bigger, bolder Canada. Through research and convening, we champion data-driven solutions for responsible population growth, advocate for long-term planning, and advance policies that secure Canada’s future.