Currently, the national provisional poverty estimates from the Canadian Income Survey include only the provinces. The official poverty estimates for 2024 available in this release and those forthcoming in spring 2027 include estimates for people living in the territories.
Definitions
The Market Basket Measure is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the costs of food, clothing and footwear, transportation, shelter, communication services, and other expenses for a reference family. These costs are compared with the disposable income of families to determine whether they fall below the poverty line. The poverty estimates are derived using the 2023-base methodology. For more information, please see The proposed methodology for the 2023-base Market Basket Measure of poverty.
The official poverty estimates use tax files from the most current reference year.
The provisional poverty estimates use a combination of tax files from the previous reference year and the most current reference year. They are estimated using the methodology described in Provisional poverty estimates for 2024.
An unattached individual refers to a person not in an economic family. It is a person living either alone or with others to whom they are unrelated, such as roommates or a lodger.
