A new article entitled "Socioeconomic outcomes of transgender and non-binary people in Canada" was released today. Using data from the 2021 Census of Population, this release examines poverty rates and earnings among the gender diverse population (i.e., transgender men, transgender women and non-binary people) compared with cisgender people (see Note to readers). Income is often considered the most important social determinant of health, with lower income and poverty linked to poorer physical and mental health outcomes.
Non-binary people most likely to hold a bachelor's degree or higher
Among the population aged 18 and older, gender diverse people were considerably younger on average, had higher disability rates, worked fewer hours and tended to be employed in lower paid occupations than cisgender men. There was considerable variation in educational attainment among the gender diverse population, with non-binary people most likely among all groups studied to hold a bachelor's degree or higher (38.8%), while transgender men (22.6%) and transgender women (23.8%) were the least likely.
Poverty rates highest among the gender diverse population
The 2021 Census was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted employment and earnings patterns for many people living in Canada. Poverty rates were generally lower in 2020 than in previous years, at least partially due to pandemic-related government transfers which helped to decrease the proportion of the population in low income. Despite this trend, poverty rates were higher for gender diverse individuals in 2020 than for cisgender people, and these disparities persisted after accounting for the younger age of the gender diverse population (see Note to readers).
Among the population aged 18 and older in the provinces and territories, age-standardized poverty rates were highest for non-binary people (17.8%), followed by transgender women (11.1%) and transgender men (10.5%). In contrast, cisgender men (7.0%) and cisgender women (7.0%) were least likely to live in poverty. Poverty remained higher for transgender women and non-binary people compared with cisgender men after accounting for age as well as factors such as educational attainment, work activity, and occupational group, among others.
Transgender and non-binary people experience earnings gaps compared with cisgender men
In 2020, gender diverse paid employees faced substantial gaps in annual earnings relative to cisgender men, the comparison group used in this analysis. Among full-time, full-year employees aged 25 to 64 years, unadjusted earnings were highest for cisgender men ($81,900), and lower for transgender men ($68,900), cisgender women ($67,800), non-binary people ($66,000) and transgender women ($64,300). After taking age into account, transgender women earned 20.3% less than cisgender men, while cisgender women earned 17.6% less than cisgender men. Transgender men (10.1% less) and non-binary people (5.9% less) also experienced sizeable earnings gaps relative to cisgender men. After accounting for sociodemographic and employment characteristics in addition to age, earnings gaps persisted.
This is the first release by Statistics Canada to provide a sociodemographic portrait of transgender and non-binary populations and examine their economic outcomes using census data. These results help address a knowledge gap regarding the gender diverse population in Canada.
Note to readers
One of the many strengths of the Census of Population is the ability to study small population subgroups. The addition of the gender question to the 2021 Census questionnaire allows for the analysis of data on the transgender and non-binary population.
The term "cisgender" refers to people whose reported gender corresponds to their reported sex at birth, while the term "transgender" refers to people whose reported gender does not correspond to their reported sex at birth. In this release, the term "non-binary" is used to describe all genders that are neither exclusively man nor woman, although individuals might self-identify with other terms.
To account for the younger age structure of the transgender and the non-binary populations, descriptive statistics reported in this release are age-standardized. The age distributions of groups studied were mathematically adjusted to have the same age structure as cisgender men. Age-standardization allows for meaningful comparisons of the characteristics and outcomes for populations with very different age structures.
Poverty was measured using the Market Basket Measure, which was established to determine Canada's Official Poverty Line. The target population of the poverty analysis is individuals aged 18 and older living in private households and off-reserve in the provinces and territories. Non-permanent residents were excluded, as the size of that population was too small to disaggregate for gender diversity and other variables.
For the analysis of employment earnings, the target population was further restricted to those aged 25 to 64 years who had wages in 2020, did not have self-employment income and did not attend school from September 2020 to May 11, 2021.
Further details about data, methods, and concepts can be found in the article.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).