Nearly a fifth of all families in Canada have experienced food insecurity in recent years, a new study has shown.
According to data from the Canadian Income Survey, most of the people who didn’t have enough to eat had incomes above the poverty line.
The Statistics Canada study – titled “Food insecurity among Canadian families” – found that 18 per cent of families asked in 2022 said they had experienced food insecurity at some point in the previous 12 months.
In 2021, the figure was 16 per cent.
Only 11 per cent of the families that experienced food insecurity had incomes below the poverty line.
The vast majority – about eight in 10 – had incomes above the poverty line.
The researchers define food security as “the inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so.”
They said it “usually results from an inability to access adequate food due to financial constraints.”
It can be a serious problem, the study’s authors explained, and is associated with diseases, infections and mental health problems.
People suffering from food insecurity have been found to be at greater risk of hospitalization and premature death, the authors added.
The study found that single mothers are among the most vulnerable to food insecurity, with almost half (48 per cent) of them who are below the poverty line experiencing food insecurity.
Among those above the poverty line, the figure was 40 per cent.
Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest proportion of families suffering from food insecurity (22.6 per cent), while Quebec had the lowest (14.1 per cent).
The figure in British Columbia was 16.9 per cent.
