Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, March 2022
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Description: Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, March 2022
| Year | Rate |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 14.5% |
| 2016 | 12.9% |
| 2017 | 11.9% |
| 2018 | 11.2% |
| 2019 | 10.3% |
| 2020 | 6.4% |
“Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy” establishes the Official Poverty Line for Canada along with the Dashboard of 12 Indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households.
| Indicator | Most recent value | Previous value | Trend | Percentage change | Reference periods |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dignity | |||||
| Deep income poverty (Persons with income below 75% of Canada's Official Poverty Line) | 3.0% | 5.1% | Down | -41.2% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Unmet housing needs and chronic homelessness (Unmet housing needs) | 12.7% | 12.5% | Up | 1.6% | 2011 to 2016 |
| Unmet health needs (Persons 16 years and older who reported not receiving health care when they felt they needed it) | 7.2% | 6.1% | Up | 18.0% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Food insecurity (Persons living in households that reported food insecurity) | 11.2% | 10.8% | Up | 3.7% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Opportunity and Inclusion | |||||
| Relative low income (Persons who had less than half the median after-tax income) | 9.3% | 12.1% | Down | -23.1% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Bottom 40 percent income share (Percentage of total after-tax income that went to those in the bottom 40% of the income distribution) | 22.2% | 21.0% | Up | 5.7% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Youth engagement (Persons aged 15 to 24 who were not in employment, education or training) | 11.4% | 11.8% | Down | -3.4% | 2020 to 2021 |
| Literacy and numeracy - Low literacy (15 year olds) | 13.8% | 10.7% | Up | 29.0% | 2015 to 2018 |
| Literacy and numeracy - Low numeracy (15 year olds) | 16.3% | 14.4% | Up | 13.2% | 2015 to 2018 |
| Resilience and Security | |||||
| Median hourly wage - All | $26.00 | $26.36 | Down | -1.4% | 2020 to 2021 |
| Median hourly wage - Women | $24.40 | $24.81 | Down | -1.7% | 2020 to 2021 |
| Median hourly wage - Men | $28.00 | $28.62 | Down | -2.2% | 2020 to 2021 |
| Average poverty gap (For those living below the poverty line, the poverty gap ratio is the amount that the person’s disposable family income is below the poverty line, expressed as a percentage of the poverty line) | 31.7% | 33.0% | Down | -3.9% | 2019 to 2020 |
| Asset resilience (Persons who had enough liquid assets to cover three months of the low income measure) | 67.1% | 66.6% | Up | 0.8% | 2016 to 2019 |
| Low income entry and exit rates - Entry rates (All persons) | 3.9% | 3.9% | No change | 0.0% | 2017/2018 to 2018/2019 |
| Low income entry and exit rates - Exit rates (Persons in low income) | 29.5% | 28.1% | Up | 5.0% | 2017/2018 to 2018/2019 |
Canada’s Official Poverty Dashboard will be updated as new data become available. The indicators based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM) use the 2018 base.
The methodologies used to estimate the unmet health needs and food insecurity indicators were updated.
Note: The concepts and dimensions of poverty are defined in detail in Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy, available for download at canada.ca/publicentre-ESDC.
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