Child poverty rose for third consecutive year: Campaign 2000 report

Advertisement

Advertise with us

TORONTO - An organization that campaigns to end child poverty says the number of children living in households that struggle to pay bills and buy food has continued to grow.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$1 per week for 24 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.99/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.

TORONTO – An organization that campaigns to end child poverty says the number of children living in households that struggle to pay bills and buy food has continued to grow.

The 2025 report card from Campaign 2000 says 30,000 more kids fell into poverty in 2023, the latest national data available.

That means the child poverty rate climbed for the third year in a row, which the advocates say shows that efforts to reverse the trend are not working.

Children's backpacks and shoes are seen at a daycare franchise, in Langley, B.C., on May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Children's backpacks and shoes are seen at a daycare franchise, in Langley, B.C., on May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The report says 1.4 million kids lived in poverty in 2023, with single-parent households particularly at risk, according to family income data.

That’s a child poverty rate of 18.3 per cent.

It says 45 per cent of children in lone-parent families lived in poverty, compared to 10.1 per cent in couple families.

The organization says the child poverty rate increased from 2020, when the government’s pandemic benefits temporarily reduced it to 13.5 per cent based on the after-tax family income measure.

The report says kids are the most likely age group to live in poverty in Canada.

It says Nunavut had the highest child poverty rate in the country, with nearly 39 per cent of kids living in poverty. Saskatchewan and Manitoba also had higher-than-average rates, hovering around 27 per cent.

Yukon had the lowest child poverty rate of all the provinces and territories, at 12 per cent. The report says that’s because most Yukoners live in Whitehorse, where there are higher-than-average incomes and a stable job market.

It says those in rural and remote parts of the Yukon disproportionately face poverty, especially Indigenous Peoples.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2026.

Report Error Submit a Tip

Canada

LOAD MORE