Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, May 2025
Release date: May 1, 2025
Description: Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, May 2025
| Year | Rate |
|---|---|
| percent | |
| 2015 | 14.5 |
| 2016 | 12.9 |
| 2017 | 11.9 |
| 2018 | 11.2 |
| 2019 | 10.3 |
| 2020 | 6.4 |
| 2021 | 7.4 |
| 2022 | 9.9 |
| 2023 | 10.2 |
Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy introduced the Official Poverty Line for Canada and a 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 period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dignity | |||||
| Deep income poverty (Persons whose family disposable income is below 75% of Canada's Official Poverty Line) |
5.3% | 5.0% | Up | +6.0% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Unmet housing needs and chronic homelessness - Unmet housing needs | 10.1% | 12.7% | Down | -20.5% | 2016 to 2021 |
| Unmet health needs (Persons 15 years and older who reported not receiving health care when they felt they needed it) |
9.1% | 9.2% | Down | -1.1% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Food insecurity (Persons living in households that reported moderate or severe food insecurity) |
19.1% | 16.9% | Up | +13.0% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Opportunity and Inclusion | |||||
| Relative low income (Persons living in households whose median after-tax income is below half the Canadian median after-tax income) |
12.0% | 11.9% | Up | +0.8% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Bottom 40 percent income share (Share of total after-tax income of the population in the bottom 40% of the income distribution) |
21.1% | 21.1% | No change | 0.0% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Youth engagement (Persons aged 15 to 24 who were not in employment, education or training) |
9.8% | 9.0% | Up | +8.9% | 2023 to 2024 |
| Literacy and numeracy - Low literacy (15-year-olds) | 18.1% | 13.8% | Up | +31.2% | 2018 to 2022 |
| Literacy and numeracy - Low numeracy (15-year-olds) | 21.6% | 16.3% | Up | +32.5% | 2018 to 2022 |
| Resilience and Security | |||||
| Median hourly wage - All | $30.00 | $29.49 | Up | +1.7% | 2023 to 2024 |
| Median hourly wage - Women | $28.00 | $27.14 | Up | +3.2% | 2023 to 2024 |
| Median hourly wage - Men | $32.00 | $31.51 | Up | +1.6% | 2023 to 2024 |
| Average poverty gap (Average shortfall below Canada’s Official Poverty Line for those living in poverty, expressed as a percentage of the poverty line) |
33.3% | 32.4% | Up | +2.8% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Asset resilience (People who can cover unexpected expenses or reduced income by drawing on assets (e.g., a bank account) for a period of three months) |
71.4% | 67.1% | Up | +6.4% | 2019 to 2023 |
| Low income entry and exit rates - Entry rates (All persons) | 5.0% | 5.5% | Down | -9.1% | 2020/2021 to 2021/2022 |
| Low income entry and exit rates - Exit rates (Persons in low income) | 32.5% | 29.1% | Up | +11.7% | 2020/2021 to 2021/2022 |
Notes:
- The indicators based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM) use the 2018 base.
- The concepts and dimensions of poverty are defined in detail in Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy.
- Date modified: