Alberta pension plans top $182 billion in assets as membership passes one million

Pension plans registered in Alberta held $182 billion in assets at the end of 2025, as the total number of active plans and overall membership both rose for the year, Alberta Treasury Board and Finance said in a fact sheet published Tuesday.

The annual figures, drawn from Annual Information Return filings with the province's Superintendent of Pensions and current as of Dec. 31, 2025, show 579 registered plans, up from 569 the year before — a 1.8 per cent increase. Total membership reached 1,026,567, up 2.6 per cent from roughly one million in 2024. The market value of assets grew 6.7 per cent from $170.5 billion.

The growth in the number of active plans runs counter to a national pattern. Alberta's registered pension plans increased by 1.8 per cent in 2025 while the number of pension plans across Canada declined by 3.1 per cent, the fact sheet said.

Defined benefit and target benefit plans — grouped under the benefit formula category — account for a minority of plans by count but hold the large majority of assets. Of the 579 registered plans, 150 are benefit formula plans, covering 787,492 members and holding $171.1 billion in assets. The remaining 429 plans are defined contribution only, covering 239,075 members with $10.9 billion in assets.

Put another way, defined contribution plans make up 74.1 per cent of all registered plans in Alberta but hold only six per cent of total plan assets and cover 23.3 per cent of members. Defined contribution membership grew 6.8 per cent from 2024, continuing what the fact sheet describes as a long-term shift toward that plan type.

Within the benefit formula category, jointly governed plans — three plans in total — are outsized in their reach, covering 434,643 members and holding $103.6 billion, or roughly 57 per cent of total plan assets, while accounting for about 42 per cent of all registered plan members.

Looking back further, total plan membership has risen 11.6 per cent since 2019, when it stood at 920,025, and assets have grown 34.6 per cent over the same period.

The fact sheet also notes that Bill 17 received royal assent on March 26, 2026, amending certain legislative provisions related to target benefit plans and annuity discharge.

The province updates the fact sheet annually. Questions can be directed to the Employment Pensions office at employment.pensions@gov.ab.ca.