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The percentage of people living in poverty has dropped in two of Southwestern Ontario’s largest urban areas, London and Windsor, according to new Statistics Canada 2018 income survey.

The number of people in the London census metropolitian area (CMA) living below the poverty line dropped a dramatic 27 per cent — from 78,000 in 2017 to 57,000 the following year.

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The London CMA includes St. Thomas, Strathroy-Caradoc, Middlesex Centre, Thames Centre, Central Elgin, Adelaide-Metcalfe and Southwold.

As a percentage of the population, the rate fell from 15.2 per cent to 12.1.

The median after-tax income rose from $53,000 to $54,600. However, the median income of those under the poverty line decreased by $500 to $14,100.

As welcome as that news is, the income survey is a snapshot and the good news could easily be reversed, a London anti-poverty leader says.

“We are about happy about it, but we have been through this before, only to see numbers go back up,” said London Food Bank co-director Glen Pearson.