Bank of Canada Notes Outstanding

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I'm sure that the Bank of Canada published a table, at one time, that listed the outstanding bank notes by series and denomination.
I've been unable to find this table at the Bank of Canada website or anywhere else on the web.
Could someone please provide me with a link to the most recent table?

Thanks.

1980-2018 in line graph form, and 2014-2018 in table format:
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/banking-and-financial-statistics/bank-of-canada-note-liabilities-formerly-k1/
On that same page you can download an Excel file (.csv format) for a table of the data going back to 1978.

Table format, 2004-2016:
https://cdnpapermoney.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15204.0;attach=3847;image

There used to be tables of this going back to the 1990s on the old cdnpapermoney wiki site, unfortunately it didn't survive the migration. Fortunately, the wayback machine has archived it: https://web.archive.org/web/20111228003534/http://wiki.cdnpapermoney.com/index.php?title=Bank_of_Canada_Note_Liabilities

Very interesting info. I didn't expect the $100 bill to be so popular (2nd only to the $20 in total numbers outstanding) and still increasing rapidly while $20s have actually started to decline.  Also the $50 surpassing the $5 in shear numbers is interesting.  However the $10 in last place is no surprise.

Very interesting info. I didn't expect the $100 bill to be so popular (2nd only to the $20 in total numbers outstanding) and still increasing rapidly while $20s have actually started to decline.  Also the $50 surpassing the $5 in shear numbers is interesting.  However the $10 in last place is no surprise.

If you notice the reduction in 1000's in dollar value it is about the same as the increase in dollar value of $50+$100. I am wondering if it is related?

Here is something even more fascinating based on 2018 outstanding:

$5 - 286 million notes (equal to 28 prefixes compared to 34 polymer prefixes released)
$10 - 163 million notes (equal to 16 prefixes compared to 26 polymer prefixes released)
$20 - 978 million notes (equal to 98 prefixes compared to 134 polymer prefixes released)
$50 - 328 million notes (equal to 33 prefixes compared to 43 polymer prefixes released)
$100 - 501 million notes (equal to 50 prefixes compared to 64 polymer prefixes released)

If you notice the reduction in 1000's in dollar value it is about the same as the increase in dollar value of $50+$100. I am wondering if it is related?

Rupiah, I think you need to double check your math.

Between 2014 and 2018 the value of $50 + $100 notes went from 48.5 Billion to 66.5 billion and increase of 18 billion dollars in circulation.

During the same time period the value $1000 notes went from 825 Million to 673 Million, a decrease of 152 million dollars in circulation

So the removal of $1000s could account for a less than 1% of the increase in 50s and 100s.

I think the real answer is simply inflation of the the money supply.  I'm not sure by how much bank account balances have increased over the same period but I would suspect it's an even greater amount (%-age wise) given that people are using cash less and less.

Slightly off-topic but this goes to show what a joke 1-2% CPI measurements are when actual monetary inflation is closer to the double-digit range.  They really have to cherry-pick and manipulate the data to come up with the numbers that they do.

Rupiah, I think you need to double check your math.

Between 2014 and 2018 the value of $50 + $100 notes went from 48.5 Billion to 66.5 billion and increase of 18 billion dollars in circulation.

You have a good point about inflation, but I was actually referring to the change between 2017 and 2018 since the time the announcement was made about the notes being removed as legal tenders (see below)

As you can see the number of 1000's withdrawn from 2017 to 2018 increased more than normal from the trend line in 2014 to 2017.


Of course as you have rightly identified, there is an inflation factor.

I am wondering however if the more than normal (3.4% vs 9.1%) removal of 1000's from 2017 to 2018 had any effect on the 100's and 50's because the total inflationary change actually went down from high 6% to mid 4%.

In other words if the reduction of 1000's were not replaced at the same rate then clearly the inflation related replacement would be much higher because the trend in total value in circulation has not changed much.

1000's outstanding by year and change from previous year:

2014 - 825 thousand
2015 - 794 thousand - change from 2014 - 31 thousand or 3.8% reduction
2016 - 767 thousand - change from 2015 - 27 thousand or 3.4% reduction
2017 - 741 thousand - change from 2016 - 26 thousand or 3.4% reduction
2018 - 673 thousand - change from 2017 - 68 thousand or 9.1% reduction (2.5 times as much as prior years)


Compare the above with the dollar value of total of all notes in circulation (which should give some idea of overall inflationary change)

2014 - 70 billion -
2015 - 75 billion - change from 2015 - 5 billion or 7.1%
2016 - 80 billion - change from 2016 - 5 billion or 6.7%
2017 - 86 billion - change from 2017 - 6 billion or 7.5%
2018 - 90 billion - change from 2018 - 4 billion or 4.6%


The reason for increased removal of 1000's in 2018 is likely attributable to the announcement about the change in legal tender status. I know that the branches I deal with had many 1000's coming back all of a sudden.

I certainly agree that the reduction of $1000 notes would tend to contribute to an increase of other denominations in circulation.  However, looking at absolute numbers rather than percentages we can see that the numbers are still insignificant even for 2017-2018.

If 68,000 notes ($68M) worth of $1000s were turned in that's still a tiny amount compared to the $4B increase in other denominations.  We're talking about a 0.075% decrease in overall note liabilities attributable to the $1000 notes being returned compared to the 4.6% increase in other denominations.

I'm not sure that it makes a meaningful difference one way or the other.

For me, the most interesting facts are:

• Six 1935 $500 notes were turned in between 2001 and 2004
  
• More $2 notes were outstanding in 2018 than there were in 1979
• More $1,000 notes were outstanding in 2018 than there were in 1984
• On average, there are more than half a million $1 and $2 notes pulled from circulation every year over the last ten years—that's more than 2,000 notes every business day over the last decade.
  
• $4,000 in face value of pre-confederation paper money (Newfoundland notes maybe?) turned in between 2012 and 2016. WTF???

For context:
Canada population increase, 1978–2018: +154%
Inflation, 1978–2018: +362%
Bank of Canada note liability increase, 1978–2018: +945%

Changes in number of notes in circulation, 1978-2018:
Current:
$5: +370%
$10: +30%
$20: +457%
$50: +2,050%
$100: +2,375%

Withdrawn:
$1: -61%
$2: +10%
$25: 0%
$500: -17%
$1,000: +261%

Staggering how the $10 is lagging so far behind everything else that's being pumped out.

I'm not sure that it makes a meaningful difference one way or the other.

Good point

For me, the most interesting facts are:

Interesting analysis

I wonder if the number of $10 notes has increased very slightly between 1978 and 2018 because people are hoarding them, realizing they are hard to come by and they want to hold on to them due to being potential collectors' items?

It makes me wonder, could the actual number of $10 notes in circulation be dramatically low now if you rule out hoarding?

Of course, bank orders for $10 notes have likely gone down greatly by now. In Newfoundland, at least in St. John's, I still see far more MacDonald $10s - many of them, older - than the Desmond variety now, unlike in bigger provinces like Ontario and Quebec.  I don't remember the last time I saw a Desmond $10 note in my change, to be quite honest.

I still believe that $10 notes are an endangered species at this point.

Nah. The ten just isn't a popular spending denomination, being right in the middle. Two fives make a ten, two tens make a twenty. That makes it not nearly as useful. I believe the 50¢ coin fell out of use for the same reason; two 25¢ make a 50¢, two 50¢ make a dollar. If we had a 20¢ coin instead of a 25¢, I'm sure the 50¢ coin would still be around.

I also believe that the $10 bill will reach its demise down the road, because where the number of $100 bills in circulation is rapidly rising, and with only two denominational letters currently used on the $100 bill - J and K - there will be a need to expand the number of denominational letters on the rapidly rising $100 bill down the road.  The way the number is rising, we may be in the HK* series by the end of the decade.

If the Bank of Canada decides to retire the $10 bill, they will most likely recycle the $10 denominational letters on the two largest denominations - the $50 and $100 bills. Half of them would appear on the $50, and the other half would appear on the $100.

I also agree with Seth on the $10 bill vs. 50-cent coin comparison.  I think 50-cent coins were only useful with regards to rides at the CNE in Toronto every August, and it may seem like inflation caused the rides to require a loonie, and if true, that explains why the 50-cent coin was retired in 2004, but not withdrawn like the penny later was.

If we lose the $10 bill, we will lose the $10 denomination, not replacing it with a coin of the same value.  People seem to have the mindset that we lost the $1 and $2 bills, and assume the $5 will be next to go, when really the $1,000 bill was next to go.

If we lose the $10 bill, it will likely be due to redundancy, and the percentage of banks ordering them being quite low, that it doesn't justify keeping it in circulation.  The Canadian Government can retire a denomination due to redundancy - after all, they did get rid of the $500 bill in 1938 due to redundancy and no customers wanting them.

  - after all, they did get rid of the $500 bill in 1938 due to redundancy and no customers wanting them.

I bet there are a lot of us that would want them now