Canada’s Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, November 2025
Release date: November 7, 2025
Description: Canada’s Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, November 2025
| Year | Rate |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 6.8% |
| 2021 | 7.9% |
| 2022 | 10.3% |
| 2023 | 10.9% |
Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy establishes the Official Poverty Line for Canada along with 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 disposable family income is below 75% of Canada's Official Poverty Line) |
5.5% | 5.1% | Up | 7.8% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Unmet housing needs and chronic homelessness | |||||
| Unmet housing needs | 10.1% | 12.7% | Down | -20.5% | 2016 to 2021 |
| Chronic homelessness | 30.2% | 27.6% | Up | 9.4% | 2023 to 2024 |
| 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 (Percentage of total after-tax income of the population in the bottom 40% of the income distribution) | 21.1% | 21.1% | No change | 0 | 2022 to 2023 |
| Youth engagement (Persons aged 15 to 24 who were not in employment, education or training) |
10.3% | 9.8% | Up | 5.1% | 2024 to 2025 |
| Literacy and numeracy | |||||
| Low literacy (15-year-olds) | 18.1% | 13.8% | Up | 31.2% | 2018 to 2022 |
| 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 |
| Women | $28.00 | $27.14 | Up | 3.2% | 2023 to 2024 |
| 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) |
32.9% | 32.1% | Up | 2.5% | 2022 to 2023 |
| Asset resilience (Persons who can cover unexpected expenses or reduced income by drawing on assets (e.g., from 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) | 4.1% | 5.0% | Down | -18.0% | 2021/2022 to 2022/2023 |
| Exit rates (Persons in low income) | 34.9% | 32.5% | Up | 7.4% | 2021/2022 to 2022/2023 |
Notes:
- The indicators based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM) use the 2023 base.
- The concepts and dimensions of poverty are defined in detail in Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy.
- Date modified: