One-Third of Canadians Live in Households Struggling to Make Ends Meet: StatCan

A man shops for food at a store in Toronto in a file photo. Federal research dated December 2024 indicates that a third of Canadians had to borrow money or run up credit card debt in order to buy food or pay other monthly expenses in the past 12 months. Reuters/Carlos Osorio

One in three Canadians was living in a household that was struggling financially last month, a Statistics Canada report has found.

Thirty-three percent of survey respondents, aged 15 and older, said it was either difficult or very difficult throughout the month of October to pay for essentials like housing, food, clothing, and transportation.

While the number is a 2.4 percent improvement from October 2022, it is “notably higher than the proportion recorded in October 2020 (20.4 percent),” the Nov. 3 report reads.

Southern Ontario appears to be the hardest hit region with 41.8 percent of respondents in St. Catharines–Niagara reporting difficulty in making ends meet. That was followed by 41 percent in Windsor, 40.7 percent in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, 38.1 percent in Toronto, 37.6 percent in Hamilton, 36.2 percent in London, and 35.2 percent in Oshawa.

Respondents from Quebec City fared the best with 20.5 percent saying they found it difficult to pay their bills last month.

Breakdown By Household Type

Renters were more likely to struggle financially than homeowners, the report found. In fact, 41.3 percent of renters had financial difficulties compared to 36.1 percent of those living in a mortgaged home. That number dropped to 20 percent for those living in homes without a mortgage.

Nearly half—48.7 percent—of single-parent families in which the parent was employed struggled to meet their financial needs compared to 69.8 percent of families in which the parent was unemployed. Thirty-six percent of dual-income families with children had financial difficulties.

Many immigrants who have come to Canada in the past decade have also been struggling, the report found. While 30.8 percent of those born in Canada reported financial strain, 44.7 percent of newcomers are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

Among the largest racialized population groups, 47 percent of South Asian Canadians and 43.9 percent of black Canadians experienced difficulties meeting their financial obligations. For First Nations people living off-reserve, 39.5 percent experienced financial difficulties, while for Métis the proportion was 40.6 percent.

Rising Costs

Although inflationary pressures have eased since last year, the “higher cost of essential goods and services continues to place financial pressures on many households across Canada,” the report reads.

In September, for example, the cost of shelter rose six percent while the price of food increased 5.9 percent, outpacing the average annual wage growth of five percent.

The Canadian economy added 17,500 jobs in October, while the jobless rate crept up to a 21-month high of 5.7 percent, the StatCan report said. The unemployment rate has increased four times in the past six months and is now at its highest level since hitting 6.5 percent in January 2022. The rate has increased by 0.7 percentage points since April after holding steady at a near record-low of five percent from December 2022 to April 2023.

“There were 1.2 million unemployed persons in October, an increase of 171,000 since April,” Stats Can said in its report. “Among those who were unemployed in September, 60.1 percent remained unemployed in October...an indication that job seekers are facing more difficulties finding employment than a year ago.”

The rising cost of living and fewer job opportunities, combined with the country’s housing crisis have left many Canadians with a bleak outlook for the future, according to a recent Ipsos poll. Of those surveyed, 73 percent said owning a home is “only for the rich” while 66 percent said they have given up on ever owning their own home.

Seventy-one percent of those polled said they are living in a community in which a housing crisis exists and 59 percent think many Canadians will be forced to default on their mortgage payments due to high interest rates.

Reuters contributed to this report.