Despite Canada’s wealth and resources, there continues to be a steady percentage of Canadians living in poverty. In 2023, the poverty rate for Canada was 10.2% which equates to nearly 4 million individuals (Statistics Canada, 2025, Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty). The lowest recorded rate of poverty amongst Canadians was 6.4% in 2020, which meant roughly 1.4 million fewer individuals experiencing poverty, including 332,000 children and 162,000 seniors (Statistics Canada, 2025). The significant drop in poverty experienced during this time was a result of the federal income supports provided to Canadians during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Government benefits such as Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the Canada Recovery Benefit were offered on a short-term basis as a means of offsetting the financial hardship experienced by Canadians during this time. The supports introduced during this time helped Canadians with the lowest incomes to not fall under the poverty line (Statistics Canada, 2025, Question period note section).
Poverty is measured using the Market Basket Measure Poverty Index (MBM-PI) which is referred to as Canada’s Official Poverty Line and has been in use since 2019. “The thresholds represent the costs of specified qualities and quantities of food, clothing, shelter, transportation and other necessities for a reference family of two adults and two children” (Statistics Canada, 2021, Dictionary Section of 2021 Census). Essentially using the cost of a “basket” of goods or services as measurement. The thresholds can be adjusted for different locations in Canada and various families sizes.
Deep Income Poverty vs Between Market Value Threshold Poverty
- Deep income poverty (DIP) refers to individuals and families that cannot afford a substantial amount of necessities included in the Market Basket Measure’s basket. A household is considered to be experiencing deep income poverty if its disposable income falls below 75% of the Market Basket Measure threshold (Statistics Canada, 2025, Deep income poverty).
- Between market value threshold (BMT) poverty refers to families that are not living in deep income poverty, but are still experiencing poverty according to the MBM threshold. This is also referred to as “shallow poverty” (Statistics Canada, 2025, Deep income poverty).
Our Objective
Our intention for this website is to provide families experiencing poverty with a variety of easy-to-understand information, statistics, and resources on an accessible platform. We provide information and resources that consider the complexities and adversities endured by families experiencing poverty. Our topics researched include government financial support and social programs, parental stress and family stability, post-secondary funding, education and child development, access to housing and affordability, food insecurity and access to recreation and social activities.