Social conditions: Poverty
Who lives below the official poverty line?
In 2024, 11.0% of Canadians, 4.48 million people, had incomes below Canada’s official poverty line. The rate fell to a record low of 7.0% in 2020, when pandemic benefits were paid, then rose as they ended and prices climbed.
- Poverty rate, 2024
- 11.0%
- 7.0% in 2020
- Children under 18
- 11.5%
- 29.7% in one-parent families led by a woman+
- Working-age adults living alone
- 33.2%
- The highest-risk group
- Seniors 65+
- 5.4%
- Lowest of any age group
The pandemic dip and the rebound
Poverty rate by age and family situation, 2020–2024
% of persons below the Market Basket Measure (2023 base). Choose a group to bring it forward.
Poverty across the country
Poverty rate by province and territory
% of persons below the Market Basket Measure. Click a province for its change.
2023 values for Prince Edward Island and Yukon were not published in the release.
- 2024
- 2023
Concepts
Exercises
By how many percentage points did the overall poverty rate rise between 2020 and 2023?
Check your reasoning
From 7.0% to 11.1%, an increase of 4.1 points.
Explain why 2020 can be used as a natural experiment on income support. What are the limits of that comparison?
Check your reasoning
Large temporary transfers arrived suddenly and then ended, so changes in poverty around them reflect the transfers more than slow-moving factors. Limits: 2020 also had job losses, lockdowns and changes in spending, so other things were not held constant.
Quebec’s poverty rate (7.0%) is well below Ontario’s (12.5%) even though Ontario’s median income is higher. Give two reasons.
Show a hint
Think about what the MBM compares income against, and about provincial programs.
Check your reasoning
The MBM basket costs less where rents are lower, and Quebec’s rents are generally lower than Ontario’s. Quebec also has more generous family policies (subsidized childcare, provincial child benefits), which raise disposable income at the bottom.
Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy targets a 50% cut in poverty from 2015 by 2030. Find the 2015 baseline in Statistics Canada table 11-10-0135-01 and assess whether the target is on track.
Check your reasoning
The 2015 rate on the 2018 base was about 14.5%, so the target is about 7.25%. The 2020 rate met it, but the rebound to about 11% in 2023–2024 puts it off track. Note that base revisions affect comparisons.