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Broke ‘hoods: Mapping Canada’s bankruptcy rates

A customer drops a coin in a tip jar.
A customer drops a coin in a tip jar. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

In this week’s Graphic Monday, we examine a map of consumer bankruptcy rates across Canada.

The maps below show the average rate of consumer bankruptcies per 1,000 population, for the years 2005-2011. They are organized by Forward Sortation Area, or the first three digits of a postal code, and uses 2006 population figures to calculate the rate as 2011 population by FSA is not yet available. The data came from Industry Canada.

“Consumer bankruptcy” is a personal bankruptcy, as distinguished from a business/corporate bankruptcy.

Eastern Canada
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Western Canada

As you can see in the maps, the Prairies have been relatively bankruptcy-free over the past few years. Bankruptcy rates are higher in parts of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

This was even the case a few years ago, in 2009 – at the height of the recession, bankruptcy-wise. Overall bankruptcy rates were higher though, and more widespread. There were 116,191 consumer bankruptcies in 2009, compared to just 77,989 in 2011.

Eastern Canada
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Western Canada

Here’s a provincial breakdown of the numbers.

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