What to know
- A new report from Statistics Canada shows Canada’s poverty rate stayed about the same at 11% in 2024, compared to 2023, with around 4.5 million people living below the poverty line.
- Median after-tax income remained mostly unchanged at $75,500, suggesting financial progress has stalled amid ongoing housing and inflation pressures.
- Food insecurity declined slightly for the first time in three years, but still affects about one in four Canadians.
- Racialized communities, Indigenous people, and those with disabilities continue to face higher poverty rates, while regions like Nunavut see the highest levels and Quebec the lowest.
A recently released survey by Statistics Canada (StatCan) shows around more than one in 10 Canadians are living below the poverty line, keeping stagnant to the year prior.
Amid a housing and inflation crisis, the data, which comes from the agency’s 2024 Canadian Income Survey, states the country’s poverty rate was 11 per cent, remaining about the same as in 2023.
Around 4.5 million people in Canada live below the poverty line, based on StatCan’s Market Basket Measure, which looks at the cost of basics, like housing, food, and clothing.
Canada’s poverty rate remained about the same in 2024 compared to the year prior which was 0.1 percent higher.
The median income after taxes, averaged to about $75,500 in 2024, for Canadian families and people who live alone. This was also about the same in 2023. Adjusted to inflation, these median incomes remain just about unchanged.
Additionally, food insecurity and accessibility rates have seen some decline for the first time in three years. Around 9.8 million people lived in households in 2024, which reported some form of food insecurity, which equaled about 24 per cent. 5.6 per cent of people were marginally food insecure, which decreased 0.7 per cent from 2023. Despite these decreases, one in four Canadians still struggle to access food.
Who’s being affected most?
Racialized and marginalized communities are consistently more likely to live in poverty, according to StatCan.
For People of Colour (PoC), the poverty rate was 15.5 per cent in 2024, about the same as the year prior. The poverty rate for non-PoCs was 8.9 per cent in 2024.
The three largest PoC groups in Canada faced poverty at varying levels, with South Asian Canadians at 14.2 per cent, Black Canadians at 16.4 per cent, and Chinese Canadians at 19.0 per cent. About 18 per cent of Indigenous people 15-years-old and up also lived below the poverty line.
People with disabilities were also more prone to living in poverty. Similar to 2023, 12.6 per cent of people with disabilities who were 15-years-old and up lived below the poverty line in 2024.
The poverty rate for people without disabilities in the same age range was 8.4 per cent.
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Where are we seeing poverty in Canada?
Ontario is seeing an above average poverty rate, landing at about 12.5 per cent.
Nunavut continues to have the highest poverty rate in the country at 31.7 per cent. This is an 18.7 difference to the second highest province or territory in Canada, with British Columbia seeing a 13 per cent poverty rate.
Quebec came in with the lowest poverty rate for 2024, continuing its streak, as it saw 7 per cent in 2024, down 0.7 per cent from 2023.
All-in-all, financial gain has become stagnant for most Canadians, with vulnerable groups remaining the most impacted and millions struggling to afford basic needs.
