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 of people experiencing struggles in those other areas as well. So essentially what we call the threshold.”
When assessing poverty in Canada, the “poverty line” is often referenced by determining an income level for households.
Statistics Canada uses a model, as Matern referenced, called the Market Basket Measure to define poverty, which means that a family is considered to be living in poverty if they cannot afford a modest, basic standard of living which includes the costs of food, clothing and footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses.
But Matern says having assets or debt, living in the same apartment with below-market rent, having a disability or even moving into new housing with above-market rent can all impact the standard of living.
Under that metric, the report said nearly 10 per cent of Canadians currently live in poverty, but authors of the report and those who helped in its development say looking at more than just the “poverty line” could help improve outreach.
“Developing and maintaining an MDI alongside existing income-based poverty measures could provide the government with deeper insights to enhance programs to reach more of those experiencing food insecurity,” said Sarah Stern, the executive director of the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, which helped support the report, in a statement.
When it comes to who falls under the MDI as living in poverty, single-parent families and those aged between 18 and 30 were at the top at 44.5 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. As well, 42 per cent of renters also experience being unable to afford two or more household essentials and live in a poverty-level standard of living.
The report suggests “poverty may be more extensive and possibly more multifaceted than it appears when viewed only via an income-based poverty line.”
— with files from The Canadian Press