Low income and inequality

As the first goal outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Canada and other UN member states have committed to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. This 2022 infographic provides an overview of indicators underlying the first Sustainable Development Goal in support of eradicating poverty, and the statistics and data sources used to monitor and report on this goal in Canada.

"Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy" introduces the Official Poverty Line for Canada with a dashboard of 12 Indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households. This infographic presents trend information for Canada's Official Poverty Rate and the associated 12 indicators.

Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by MBM region and base year. Total thresholds as well as thresholds for the food, clothing, transportation, shelter and other expenses components are presented, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by economic family type, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in constant dollars, annual.

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by household size for market income, total income and after-tax income, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in current dollars, annual.

Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by MBM region and base year. Total thresholds as well as thresholds for the food, clothing, transportation, shelter and other expenses components are presented, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by economic family type, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in constant dollars, annual.

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by household size for market income, total income and after-tax income, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in current dollars, annual.

This table provides statistics on year-over-year low-income transitions, including low income entry and exit rates, low income resistance, and low income immobility rates among Canadian taxfilers. The low income measure (LIM) is used to identify low income taxfilers. The LIM threshold is calculated as half of the median of the adjusted family after-tax income of all taxfilers and their family members. This table uses two different types of LIM: the variable LIM is based on the median total income re-calculated year, while the fixed LIM is based on the median total income in 2002 adjusted yearly by the all-items Consumer Price Index.

This table provides information on the number of years in low income over an eight-year period among Canadian taxfilers. The years in low-income may or may not be adjacent to each other. The low income measure (LIM) is used to identify low income taxfilers. The LIM threshold is calculated as half of the median of the adjusted family after-tax income of all taxfilers and their family members. This table uses two different types of LIM: the variable LIM is based on the median total income re-calculated each year, while the fixed LIM is based on the median total income in 2002 adjusted yearly by the all-items Consumer Price Index.

This table contains statistics that describe the duration of low income spells experienced by Canadian taxfilers in an eight-year period. A low income spell refers to a period in which a person stays in low income. It can last one year or several years consecutively. The length of the spell is referred to as its duration and is measured in years. The low income measure (LIM) is used to identify low income taxfilers. The LIM threshold is calculated as half of the median of the adjusted family after-tax income of all taxfilers and their family members. This table uses two different types of LIM: the variable LIM is based on the median total income re-calculated each year, while the fixed LIM is based on the median total income in 2002 adjusted yearly by the all-items Consumer Price Index.

As the first goal outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Canada and other UN member states have committed to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. This 2022 infographic provides an overview of indicators underlying the first Sustainable Development Goal in support of eradicating poverty, and the statistics and data sources used to monitor and report on this goal in Canada.

"Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy" introduces the Official Poverty Line for Canada with a dashboard of 12 Indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households. This infographic presents trend information for Canada's Official Poverty Rate and the associated 12 indicators.

Food insecurity linked to insufficient income is an important determinant of health. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated levels of food insecurity in Canada during the pandemic, particularly among vulnerable groups, is unclear. This study estimated the proportion of Canadians reporting experience of household food insecurity six-to-nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and drew comparisons to pre-pandemic levels.

This discussion paper describes the proposed methodology for a Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N) for Yukon and the Northwest Territories, as well as identifies research which could be conducted in preparation for the 2023 review. The paper presents initial MBM-N thresholds and provides preliminary poverty estimates for reference years 2018 and 2019. A review period will follow the release of this paper, during which time Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada will welcome feedback from interested parties and work with experts, stakeholders, indigenous organizations, federal, provincial and territorial officials to validate the results.

This paper presents low-income statistics from the 2016 Census for the population residing in Indigenous communities (on reserve), in the North and in Inuit Nunangat. The selected measure for the paper is the low-income measure, after-tax computed from the household incomes, adjusted for household size, of the whole population of Canada, including those residing on reserve and in the territories. Results are presented for Canada overall as well as for the population residing on reserve, in the territories and in Inuit Nunangat, which includes Inuvialuit Region of the Northwest Territories, Nunavik in Quebec and Nunatsiavut in Labrador. Methodological considerations in the application of the Low-income measure to these geographies are also discussed.

Previous Canadian studies on poverty and low-income persistence mostly focused on individual characteristics at the national level and rarely examined the geographical aspect of poverty persistence. This report takes advantage of the large sample size of the Longitudinal Administrative Databank and examines the evolution of low-income persistence in Canada and the provinces using the after-tax Low Income Measure.

International comparison is an important way to further our understanding of the trend in income inequality and its contributing factors. The article summarizes the findings of a new report, “Rising between workplace inequalities in high-income countries,” that was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). Statistics Canada researchers contributed to the international collaboration that examines earnings inequality attributable to differences in average earnings across firms in 14 high-income countries including Canada.

"Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy" introduces the Official Poverty Line for Canada with a dashboard of 12 Indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households. This infographic presents trend information for Canada's Official Poverty Rate and the associated 12 indicators.

From September 2018 through April 2019, Statistics Canada conducted a broad consultation on the Market Basket Measure (MBM). This paper will describe the consultations that took place, give highlights of what Statistics Canada heard, and describe next steps.

The User Guide for the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) outlines uses for the index, as well as it provides a brief description of the methodology behind the development of the index. This User Guide also provides instructions on how to use the index, and lists considerations when using the CIMD data.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which used 2016 Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

This note discusses revised income estimates from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). These revisions to the SLID estimates make it possible to compare results from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) to earlier years. The revisions address the issue of methodology differences between SLID and CIS.

This report summarizes the comments received in response to a discussion paper on low income cut-offs released in January 2000.

This paper describes the issues around updating the low income cut-offs as well as Statistics Canada's findings and proposes a course of action.

Recently there has been extensive and recurring media coverage of Statistics Canada's low income cut-offs and their relationship to the measurement of poverty. At the heart of the debate is the use of the low income cut-offs as poverty lines even though Statistics Canada has clearly stated, since their publication began over 25 years ago, that they are not. The high profile recently given this issue has presented Statistics Canada with a welcome opportunity to restate its position on these issues, views which seem to have become lost in the debate.

This working presents the nature and uses of the geographic structure used by the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and explains how statistics on low income are dependent on geographical concepts. It also describes the methodology for deriving geographic data for the Wave 1 (1993 reference year) SLID files, and improvements made for the Wave 2 (1994 reference year) release.