Guess which denomination is declining?

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Out of the $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100, four out of the five had their numbers of notes in circulation rise in both 2018 and 2019. One had its numbers drop. For two consecutive years.

Guesss which one?

You might be surprised!  https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/banking-and-financial-statistics/bank-of-canada-note-liabilities-formerly-k1/#table

Guess which one?

You might be surprised!

- I was

I wasn't too surprised.

Given the fact that fewer and fewer people are using cash for every day transactions it makes perfect sense that $20s would be in decline, especially considering the extremely high number of them in circulation to start with.

Of course, high denominations are going to be in increasing demand by those individuals who do large cash transactions.  Those will be the last people to stop using cash.

The lower denominations could go either way but I suppose most people will still have some small bills lying around even if they don't use them regularly.  You could attribute their increase both to population increase and the decline in their value making people less eager to get rid of them.  Kind of like pennies that people used to just hoard in jars because it wasn't worth the trouble spending them.  I feel like $5s and $10s are getting that way, just forgotten about in the back of a drawer somewhere.

I feel like $5s and $10s are getting that way, just forgotten about in the back of a drawer somewhere.

AL-Bob, I only wish

Cheers, Bill

I wasn't too surprised.

If I had to pick which denomination was declining I'd pick the $10. So it was a surprise to learn that it's actually the $20.

The $10 has been out of favor for a long time.  It still has a long way to go to catch up to the $20 but it's nice to see that it is on the rebound.

Fun Fact:  Up until 2018 there were more $1 bills outstanding than $10s in circulation!  To this day, 44% of all $1 bills that were in circulation prior to retirement remain outstanding.

I find that to be quite amazing considering how few paper money collectors there are.  I wonder how many people are out there thinking they will make a fortune off of Grandma's small change?

$10 bills have seen increases for several years, but only increasing in very small increments per year.  With the possibility of inflation in due time, whether sparked by COVID-19 or whatever, it wouldn't surprise me if there may be a surge in the number of $10s in circulation someday, but there may still be more $5 bills in circulation than $10s by that point.

Of course, it could also be possible that the number of $10s in circulation might be creeping up because people may be hoarding them due to its scarcity, and the number of $10 bills being spent is drastically low, which explains why there were less than 20 million $10 bills printed upon the release of the Desmond series.

Also, I find it amazing that the number of $100 bills in circulation is increasing in leaps and bounds.  With the $20 now in decline, at the rate the $20 and the $100 are going, I have a feeling there will end up being more $100 bills in circulation than $20 bills in five to ten years' time.

One other thing regarding the tiny increases in the number of $10s in circulation - I read in another thread that banks had stockpiles of $10 bills (Frontiers series) but they never got distributed yet.  If not for the stockpiles held in bank vaults, could the number of $10 bills being used by consumers be drastically low now?

The $10 has been out of favor for a long time.  It still has a long way to go to catch up to the $20 but it's nice to see that it is on the rebound.

Well, the way our economy is headed, I expect that someday there may be a surge in $10 bills due to inflation, and that day may come when a lot of the stuff that currently costs $5 or less with tax, ends up costing greater than $5 with tax.

The $10 bill may never be able to catch up to the $20, but it may catch up to current $5 bill levels in some years down the road, but only if inflation happens.

Still, it is nice to see the $10 bill on the rebound, if only in tiny increments.