Canada’s official poverty rate doesn’t tell the full story of hunger and food insecurity in Canada, according to a new landmark report: Measuring Poverty with a Material Deprivation Index (MDI): An Updated Index for Canada, published today by Food Banks Canada with the support of the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security and Maytree.
The new report, prepared by Michael Mendelson, Maytree Fellow and a former Deputy Minister in Ontario and Manitoba, with Geranda Notten, Professor of Comparative Public Policy at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, introduces a Material Deprivation Index (MDI) – a poverty metric that’s widely used in Europe to measure a poverty level standard of living – with Canadian data. The MDI illuminates hidden poverty by showing that an estimated 25% of Canadians are living in poverty because they cannot afford two or more household essentials. That’s nearly 6 million more Canadians than is reflected in StatsCan’s most recent poverty rate data.
According to the MDI metrics utilized in the new Food Banks Canada report, 30% of Canadians aged 18-30 years old, 44.5% of single-parent families – and 42% of renters experience a poverty level standard of living, meaning they cannot afford two or more household essentials.
Assessing Poverty Goes Beyond Income
“A better understanding of poverty is critical to accurately track our progress in reducing economic distress among households in Canada,” says Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Canada. “Adopting an MDI in Canada could improve our understanding of the extent and nature of poverty and help explain the gaps we’re seeing between real life demand at food banks and the current official poverty rate. We ask that the Canadian government incorporate an MDI into their official poverty reduction strategy as part of the indicator portfolio to assess levels of poverty in Canada.”
“A Material Deprivation Index is widely used in other industrialized countries to measure the impact households experience because of not having enough money,” says Sarah Stern, Executive Director, Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security. “Developing and maintaining an MDI alongside existing income-based poverty measures could provide the government with deeper insights to enhance programs to reach more of those experiencing food insecurity.”
According to the MDI results, other demographics experiencing high rates of a poverty standard of living include respondents:
- Who are unemployed and looking for work: 55.5%
- Receiving government transfers as their main source of income: 55.4%
- Identifying as Black: 34.4%
- Identifying as Indigenous: 37.4%
- With a disability: 37%