Retirees are typically better off today than they were 40 years ago, Statistics Canada figures showed yesterday. The latest data follow research suggesting the current generation of retirees is the wealthiest in history.

“After-tax family incomes of retirees have generally increased,” said a StatsCan report A Cross-Cohort Comparison Of Economic Well-Being During Retirement Years. “Someone 60 years of age in 2008 would have had a different experience than someone 60 years of age in 1990,” it added.

Findings were based on tracking of incomes for retirement-age Canadians at intervals in the period from 1984 to 2008. “For example, women aged 65 to 67 in 1995 had a median income of $38,200,” wrote researchers. “By 2019 women 65 to 67 had a median income of $48,900. A similar pattern holds for men with the only difference being higher income levels.”