Poverty in Canada: unmarried? no kids? screw you

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/even-as-long-form-census-data-returns-statscan-readies-for-day-without-it-1.4368638

from the article:

35,151,728: Canadian population on census day 2016.

4.8 million: Canadians, including children, living below the poverty line in 2015.

= 13.655% of Canadians living below the poverty line.

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/backgrounder.html

this appears to be the "low income measure"

$70,336: Median household income in 2015

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/fam/Table.cfm?Lang=E&T=21&Geo=00

14,072,080 households in canada.

math

$17,584 a year is the cut off. 


regardless, being unmarried makes you chance of being poor much much higher. Only being native, or having a severe disability is more of an indicator of you being below this line.

Canada's rate of people who are poor (with poor defined as below that income) is comparable to Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, Korea, Greece, Spain, Chile, and the United States. Compare to countries like Germany, Ireland, Sweden, or France, which have rates 2/3rds what we do, or Iceland, Denmark, or Czechia which all have rates less than half what we do.


In short, if you are not married, the government (given its policy history) is fine with you being poor.