
Poverty
Hub
Canada's Official Poverty Line
Description - Canada's Official Poverty Line
- This line chart shows the poverty rate in Canada over time.
- It has a vertical axis showing percentages, from 5% to 15%, by increments of 2 percentage points.
- It has a horizontal axis showing years, from 2012 to 2021, by increments of 1 year.
- The line shows a general decrease in the poverty rate in the recent years until 2020, followed by an increase in 2021. The following data points are highlighted: 14.5% in 2015, 10.3% in 2019, 6.4% in 2020 (the lowest point on the graph) and 7.4% in 2021.
In 2021, 7.4% of Canadians lived in poverty, up from 6.4% in 2020. More information on Canada's Official Poverty Line
Features
Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard
"Opportunity for All" introduces a dashboard of 12 indicators to track progress on deep income poverty as well as the aspects of poverty other than income, including indicators of material deprivation, lack of opportunity and resilience.
Dignity
Lifting Canadians out of poverty by ensuring basic needs — such as safe and affordable housing, healthy food and health care — are met.
Deep income poverty
In 2021, 3.6% of Canadians were living in deep income poverty, up from 3.0% in 2020. More information on Deep poverty
Unmet housing needs and chronic homelessness
In 2021, 10.1% of Canadian households experienced core housing needs, down from 12.7% in 2016. More information on Unmet housing needs and chronic homelessness
Unmet health needs
In 2021, 7.9% of persons aged 16 years and over reported experiencing unmet health care needs, compared with 7.2% in 2020. More information on Unmet health needs
Food insecurity
In 2021, 12.9% of Canadians lived in households that had experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, up from 11.2% in 2020. More information on food insecurity
Opportunity and inclusion
Helping Canadians join the middle class by promoting full participation in society and equality of opportunity.
Relative low income
In 2021, 10.6% of Canadians had less than half the median after-tax income, up from 9.3% in 2020. More information on Relative low income
Bottom 40% income share
In 2021, 21.8 % of total after-tax income went to Canadians in the bottom 40% of the income distribution, slightly down from 22.2% in 2020. More information on Bottom 40% income share
Youth engagement
In 2022, 9.6 % of Canadian youth (aged 15 to 24) were not in employment, education or training, down from 11.3 % in 2021.More information on Youth engagement
Literacy and numeracy
13.8 percent of 15-year-old Canadians had low literacy skills in 2018, up from 10.7 percent in 2015. 16.4 percent of adults (age 16-65) had low literacy skills in 2012.
16.3 percent of 15-year-old Canadians had low numeracy skills in 2018, an increase from 14.4 percent in 2015. 22.4 percent of Canadian adults (age 16-65) had low numeracy skills in 2012. More information on Literacy and numeracy
Resilience and security
Supporting the middle class by protecting Canadians from falling into poverty and by supporting income security and resilience.
Median hourly wage
In 2022, the median hourly wage for Canadian employees was $27.00, down from $27.76 in 2021 (in 2022 dollars). More information on Median hourly wage
Average poverty gap
In 2021, Canadians who lived in families with incomes below Canada's Official Poverty Line were, on average, 31.6% below this line, little changed from 2020 (31.7%).More information on Average poverty gap
Asset resilience
In 2019, 67.1% of Canadians were asset resilient in 2019, up from 66.6% in 2016, meaning they had enough savings to cover three months of the low income measure. More information on Asset resilience
Low income entry and exit rates
Between 2019 and 2020, 3.1% of tax filers (708,000), who were not in low income in 2019, entered low income in 2020.
Between 2019 and 2020, 42.0% of tax filers (1.66 million), who were in low income in 2019, left low income in 2020. More information on Low income entry and exit rates
Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy
In August 2018, the Canadian government released "Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy". "Opportunity for All" is a whole-of-government strategy that involves actions and investments that span across the federal government.
Gender, diversity and inclusion statistics
Visit Gender, diversity and inclusion statistics for information on socio-demographic characteristics that can intersect with poverty.
Sustainable Development Goals and Poverty
Goal 1 - No poverty of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.