The agency is proposing a change to how poverty is determined

Statistics Canada says 3.2 million Canadians are living below the poverty line

Despite the decline, millions of Canadians remain below the poverty line, including more than 5,000 children

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Canada’s poverty rate has fallen to a historic low in one of the sharpest declines on record, according to Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada says 3.2 million Canadians are living below the poverty line, including more than 5,000 children.

Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen heralded the numbers in a speech this morning in Ottawa.

“This is the largest three-year reduction in poverty in Canadian history, and poverty is at its lowest point on record in Canada.”

The agency is released an updated portrait of poverty in Canada Monday based on 2018 income tax returns.

It is also proposing a change to how poverty is determined, which would likely increase the overall number of Canadians who are considered poor.

The review shows, using the existing formula, that the national poverty rate dropped to 8.7 per cent in 2018 compared to 9.5 per

cent a year earlier.

The child poverty rate of 8.2 per cent, however, is little changed from 2017, but has almost been cut in half since it peaked at 15 per

cent in 2012.

Overall, 566,000 children were living in poverty in Canada compared to one million children six years earlier.