New report says 1 in 4 Canadians may be living in poverty

A new report from Food Banks Canada suggests the number of Canadians living in poverty may be higher than previously thought, with the organization estimating 25 per cent could fall under this category because they cannot afford two or more household essentials.

The report, released Tuesday, introduced what the authors call a material deprivation index (MDI) — a metric used in Europe to measure a poverty level standard of living.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, says the MDI distinguishes between individuals who cannot afford a certain good or service, and those who do not have this good or service because they don’t want it.

“We should continue to prioritize poverty reduction,” Richard Matern, Food Banks Canada director of research, told Global News. “Many more people are feeling the impacts of poverty.”

According to Food Banks Canada, the MDI looks at 11 types of essential items Canadians surveyed said they could not afford.

That includes 10 per cent unable to afford clothing or 18 per cent unable to pay for dental care.

From this, the report’s authors suggest 25 per cent Canadians likely would fall under a poverty-level standard of living because they could not afford two or more of such essentials. The report’s methodology means 10 million of Canada’s 40 million people are living in poverty, compared with four million people as reported by Statistics Canada.

Matern said the report also looked at other indicators like food insecurity, reported economic distress, self-reported income adequacy and their actual level of income.

“It’s very striking,” Matern said.

“When you combine all these four indicators, it basically highlighted statistically that two or more items were most representative of the majority