Stubbornly high: Canada’s poverty reduction efforts have stalled
Coming out of the pandemic, many people across Canada are struggling to afford the necessities of a dignified life. The latest data from Statistics Canada’s 2024 Canadian Income Survey (CIS), an annual, cross-sectional, sample-based survey on incomes and demographic characteristics, shows Canada’s poverty reduction efforts have stalled. Furthermore, Canada is not on track to achieve its 2030 poverty reduction target of reaching 50 per cent below 2015 levels.
Without immediate government action on poverty reduction, there will be no “building Canada strong for all.”
Poverty rates are stuck
In 2024, 11 per cent of Canadians, or roughly 4.5 million people, lived below the Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line. This rate is nearly identical to what it was in 2023 (11.1 per cent) and 2022 (10.6 per cent) and is 4 percentage points higher than it was in 2020 (7 per cent) when temporary pandemic benefits sent poverty in Canada to historic lows.
On November 7, 2025, Statistics Canada released new 2023-base MBM poverty estimates and thresholds. The 2024 CIS data offers poverty estimates using the new 2023 base, but only for the years 2020 to 2024. Thus, for consistency in measuring trends, our analysis only includes these years. We also caution that these figures will not match our past analyses of poverty data using the CIS, which were based on the 2018-base MBM.
The adult working-age population is lagging behind
Among all age groups, people aged 18 to 64 continued to experience the highest poverty rate in 2024 (12.6 per cent), and this group made up about 71 per cent of all people in poverty. In contrast, seniors’ poverty continued its slight downward trend, with 5.4 per cent of people aged 65 and older experiencing poverty in 2024, compared to 5.9 per cent in 2023. Only 9 per cent of people living in poverty in 2024 were seniors.
Figure 1: Poverty rates (MBM), by age group
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0135-01. Low-income statistics by age, sex and economic family type
Unattached households are driving working-age poverty trends
Unattached individuals younger than 65 saw their poverty rate increase from 32.4 per cent in 2023 to 33.3 per cent in 2024 – the only economic family type to experience a slight increase in poverty compared to 2023 levels.
As Maytree has noted in past poverty analyses, the high rate of poverty experienced among unattached working-age adults is a reflection of the lack of income supports available to this demographic. In 2024, Maytree’s analysis of welfare incomes found that among people who received social assistance, single adults of working age who were considered employable had the least adequate incomes. This is a trend that has held constant over many years.
Figure 2: Poverty rates (MBM), by economic family type
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0135-01. Low-income statistics by age, sex and economic family type.
Notes: In the CIS, an economic family refers to a group of two or more people who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law, adoption, or a foster relationship. People who are not in an economic family are considered unattached single people, who we’ve restricted to those under age 65 for this graph. Family types with children under age 18 fall under the umbrella term of “Children in economic families,” and are divided into the categories of children in couple families or children in female lone-parent families in this graph.
Equity-deserving populations continued to experience high poverty rates
The proportion of people with disabilities who experience poverty remained high in 2024. Among all people aged 15 and older, 12.6 per cent of those with disabilities were living in poverty, compared to just 8.4 per cent of those without disabilities. Among people with disabilities aged 15 to 64, the poverty rate jumps to 15.3 per cent. People with disabilities make up over a third of all people living in poverty in this age group.
Figure 3: Poverty rates (MBM), comparison of people with and without disabilities
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0090-01. Poverty and low-income statistics by disability status.
The federal Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), which started being paid out in July 2025, will likely help reduce the depth of poverty among people with disabilities, but we won’t begin to see any effect until the 2025 CIS data is released in 2027. However, we know that the benefit is not nearly enough to significantly reduce overall poverty rates among this group.
As Maytree has highlighted in the past, the impact of the CDB may also be reduced due to access barriers, strict eligibility requirements, and potential clawbacks from other income security programs. Maytree supports the federal government’s decision, announced in the Spring Economic Update 2026, to streamline the Disability Tax Credit application process on which eligibility for the CDB is determined. This will reduce barriers to access for some people with severe disabilities, but it addresses only a few of the many structural and administrative barriers that prevent broad access to over a dozen federal disability benefits.
In addition, the CIS data shows that poverty among racialized people (counted as the “visible minority population” in the CIS), Indigenous people, and immigrants remained high in 2024. Among these populations, Indigenous people experienced the highest poverty rate at 17.9 per cent. Just over half of all people living in poverty in 2024 were racialized, including Indigenous people.
Figure 4: Poverty rates (MBM) for selected equity-deserving populations
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0093-01. Poverty and low-income statistics by selected demographic characteristics.
Poverty at the provincial and territorial levels were also relatively stagnant
In 2024, British Columbia and Ontario continued to lead all provinces in poverty, with rates of 13 per cent and 12.5 per cent, respectively. Quebec once again had the lowest poverty rate at 7 per cent, decreasing from 7.7 per cent last year.
Of note, poverty rates in 2024 were slightly higher than they were in 2023 in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. In all other provinces, poverty rates either remained unchanged or declined slightly.
In addition, this year’s CIS data includes estimates for poverty rates in the territories. Compared to the rest of Canada, Nunavut had the highest poverty rate at 31.7 per cent, a figure that has been slowly trending upwards since 2021. In contrast, poverty in the Northwest Territories declined by 6.5 percentage points between 2023 and 2024, while it increased very slightly in the Yukon during this period.
Figure 5: Poverty rates (MBM) by province and territory
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0135-01. Low-income statistics by age, sex and economic family type.
Food insecurity inched down, but the longer-term trend is troubling
While the proportion of people who feel food insecure dropped slightly in 2024 compared to 2023 (24 per cent vs. 25.7 per cent), this figure is still far higher than it should be. The long-term trend is particularly concerning: Since 2018, the proportion of people who reported experiencing food insecurity has increased by 7.2 percentage points.
The overall figure also masks disaggregated trends. Among demographic groups, the highest proportions of food insecurity in 2024 were experienced by children under age 18 (30.8 per cent), people aged 35 to 44 (28.4 per cent), and racialized populations (30.4 per cent). Among economic family types, people in one-parent households were the most likely to report experiencing food insecurity (44.4 per cent).
Importantly, not all experiences of food insecurity are the same. The data can be further divided by those who experience marginal food insecurity, those who experience moderate food insecurity, and those who experience severe food insecurity. When comparing these categories, the proportion of people who experience marginal food insecurity decreased by slightly more from 2023 to 2024 (0.7 percentage points) compared to decreases in the proportion of people experiencing moderate food insecurity (0.6 percentage points) and severe food insecurity (0.4 percentage points). As noted by leading food insecurity researchers, this trend suggests that being severely food insecure is more persistent than other experiences – a troubling finding.
The big picture: People with low incomes are falling behind
Prior to 2021, Canada was making significant progress in reaching its poverty reduction strategy goals.
The first goal was to reduce the poverty rate by one-fifth between 2015 and 2020. Since the poverty rate in 2015 was 14.5 per cent (using the 2018-base MBM), the target was to reach 11.6 per cent or less. Canada’s poverty rate in 2024 remains just below this level.
However, the cancellation of pandemic-era benefits, the lack of meaningful investment in new income supports, and the high cost of living relative to wage growth have together stalled further progress.
Canada’s second poverty reduction goal is to reduce the poverty rate by half between 2015 and 2030 – a target of 7.3 or less. With poverty reduction having stalled for several years now, we are not on a path to achieve this target.
At the same time, the income gap between high- and low-income Canadians is widening. In 2024, Statistics Canada reported that the income gap, defined as the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top and bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution, reached a high of 46.4 percentage points. This gap has been increasing every year since the pandemic, and more recent figures show that it widened further in 2025.
The data is clear: While some of us are doing exceptionally well, Canada’s prosperity is not being shared with those who have the least. It is not a question of whether Canada can afford to reduce poverty, but whether we have the will to do so.
It’s time to double down on higher income support
The latest CIS data provides further evidence that the status quo is not working for people with low incomes. To be fair, the 2024 CIS reflects policies of the past. With the federal government committed to building a stronger Canada for all – not just for people at the top – there is an opportunity to ensure that low-income households can also share in Canada’s growth and prosperity.
However, there are also significant headwinds. In the past year, the elimination of the Canada Carbon Rebate has left many low-income Canadians with less income support than they had before the last election, even after accounting for other tax cuts and new benefits. Furthermore, the lowest-income households will suffer most from today’s high oil prices and benefit the least from broad-based responses, such as reducing taxes on gasoline.
Those who know Maytree’s work will know our position: The best way to get back on track to meeting our poverty reduction goals is for the government to provide targeted income support to those in greatest need.
As shown in Figure 6 below, the trajectory of poverty closely matches that of government transfers. Plus, having higher income has been shown to reduce core housing need and improve exits out of homelessness – two areas in which the government is also falling behind its commitments.
Figure 6: Median government transfers, select family types, in 2024 constant dollars
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0190-01 Market income, government transfers, total income, income tax and after-tax income by economic family type.
It’s not too late to change course. Here’s how:
- The federal government should expand targeted supports to people who experience high poverty rates, using established tools such as the Canada Disability Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.
- The federal government’s next National Housing Strategy should include implementing a new Canada Housing Benefit System that builds on the existing Canada Housing Benefit and social assistance programs from coast to coast.
Above all, we need a whole-of-government approach to poverty reduction that binds these actions together – one that will truly build a stronger Canada for all. We therefore echo our previous calls for Canada to recommit to its poverty reduction strategy, with a clear plan to meet its 2030 target.
The government should also begin work on a renewed plan that goes beyond 2030, this time explicitly grounded in Canada’s obligation under international law to uphold the human right to an adequate standard of living.