Find the latest data for the number of social assistance recipients and welfare incomes in every province and territory.
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Welfare in Canada
This annual report looks at the total incomes available to those relying on social assistance (often called “welfare”), taking into account tax credits and other benefits along with social assistance itself.
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Social Assistance Summaries
This annual report tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory.
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Welfare in Canada, 2024: Deep poverty remains widespread
Maytree’s latest edition of Welfare in Canada shows that households who received social assistance continued to live on incomes that were below the Official Poverty Line in 2024.
Latest count of social assistance recipients across Canada is now available
Social Assistance Summaries, 2024 shows how many people were receiving social assistance in 2023-24 and how numbers changed over time. Maytree develops this annual report by collecting and verifying data from provincial and territorial governments.
A fine line: Finding the right seniors’ poverty measure in Canada
The Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line, alone does not effectively measure income adequacy for seniors. The report recommends that the federal government either develop an MBM for seniors or adopt one of the measures developed by researchers in Canada.
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