Who files for insolvency in Canada? The OSB's debtor profile points to lost income, not overspending.
The federal insolvency regulator's profile of 2024 filers shows a median monthly shortfall of $175 and income loss as the top cause. Here is what the numbers say.
Monthly insolvency statistics tell you how many Canadians file. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy’s (OSB) Canadian Consumer Debtor Profile tells you who they are. The most recent edition covers people who filed in 2024, and it is worth reading closely, because it does not match the stereotype of the reckless spender.
The headline finding: the typical household in the profile was not living large. It was running a small monthly deficit with very little cushion.
A median shortfall of $175 a month
For the median household in the profile, income was $3,089 a month and expenses were $3,264 a month. That is a shortfall of $175 every month, which is easy to cover for a few weeks with a credit card and very hard to cover for a few years.
The same profile puts median household liabilities at $53,997 against median assets of $15,142. A median is the middle value: half of the households in the profile owed more than that, and half owed less.
Why people say they filed
The OSB reports the top five causes of insolvency as follows:
| Cause | Share of debtors |
|---|---|
| Loss of income | 45% |
| Medical reasons | 20% |
| Relationship breakdown | 11% |
| Financial support of others | 7% |
| Business failure | 6% |
Three of the top five, loss of income, medical reasons and relationship breakdown, are life events rather than spending choices. The profile also records a separate “financial mismanagement” measure, but the OSB page gives two different percentages for it, so we have left it out rather than guess which is right.
Who is filing
The average debtor was 46 years old. By age group, 27% were under 35, 37% were 35 to 49, 25% were 50 to 64, and 11% were 65 or older. That means roughly six in ten debtors were between 35 and 64, an age range often assumed to be at its peak earning power.
Student loans were a factor for 17% of debtors, with a median balance of $11,702.
Proposals have overtaken bankruptcy
Of the 137,295 consumer insolvencies filed in 2024, 79% were proposals and 21% were bankruptcies. In 2021, the split was 70% proposals and 30% bankruptcies.
A consumer proposal is a legally binding offer to creditors, made through a Licensed Insolvency Trustee, to repay a portion of what you owe over a set period, usually up to five years. If creditors accept, interest generally stops and you keep your assets. A bankruptcy is a different process: assets above certain exemptions can be sold, and most debts are discharged.
The shift has continued. In the OSB’s August 2026 monthly statistics, there were 11,757 consumer insolvencies, of which 9,105 were proposals and 2,652 were bankruptcies. Proposals were up 2.1% from August 2025, while bankruptcies rose 11.3%.
What this means for you
If you recognize your own situation in the numbers, such as a small gap between income and expenses that has been bridged with credit for too long, you are not unusual. The profile suggests it is the most common path into insolvency.
A few practical steps:
- Look at the monthly gap, not just the total. A $175 shortfall can grow quickly once interest is added.
- Act before the balance is out of reach. Options such as budgeting changes, credit counselling and proposals work differently depending on how much you owe and what you own.
- Ask a Licensed Insolvency Trustee what applies to you. If you want to understand how a consumer proposal works, what it costs and how it affects your assets, a first consultation is a reasonable place to start.
The OSB’s figures describe 2024 filers as a group. They do not predict what will happen to any one household, and they are not advice for your own situation.
Joshua Harris is a Licensed Insolvency Trustee and CEO of Harris & Partners Inc.
Sources
This article is general information about Canadian debt and insolvency, not legal or financial advice for your situation. Figures are accurate as of the publication date.
