A newly released study from Statistics Canada has shed fresh light on which Canadians are most likely to experience long-term financial hardship, revealing that poverty in the country is often not temporary but persistent.
Using tax and income data tracked over seven years, from 2016 to 2022, the study focused on what it calls “consistent low income,” defined as remaining in low income for at least four of the seven years. According to the findings, nine per cent of Canadian tax filers aged 15 and older fell into this category.
Certain groups were found to face significantly higher risks. People in female lone-parent households were the most affected, with nearly one in four experiencing persistent low income. Canadians without a high school diploma also faced elevated risk, with 21 per cent experiencing long-term low income making them five times more likely than the general population to remain stuck in poverty throughout the study period. Individuals who reported always having limitations in their daily activities were similarly vulnerable.
The data also highlighted structural inequalities. Recent immigrants were more than twice as likely to experience persistent low income compared with non-immigrants. Tax filers from racialized communities faced double the risk of long-term low income when compared with non-racialized, non-Indigenous Canadians.
While the study paints a sobering picture, it also shows that income mobility is possible for some. Among Canadians who were living with low income in 2016, nearly 30 per cent were able to move out of poverty the following year. However, economic instability remained common, as one in five of those individuals fell back into low income by 2018.
These findings echo concerns raised by the National Advisory Council on Poverty, which warned in its 2025 report that Canada’s social safety net is no longer equipped to meet modern challenges.
The council described the current moment as one marked by compounding crises, including the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising living costs, a nationwide housing shortage, climate-related disasters, and growing social and geopolitical tensions. While previous reports emphasized urgency and despair, the council noted that recent conversations with Canadians have been dominated by frustration.
According to the report, rising poverty levels and widespread financial strain suggest that existing supports and benefits are failing to keep up with rapidly increasing needs.
Income inequality continues to widen as well. Statistics Canada reported that the income gap grew in the third quarter of 2025, with lower-income households hit by falling interest rates and reduced self-employment income. At the same time, middle-income households saw their savings decline, largely due to sluggish wage growth.
Together, the data points to a troubling reality: for many Canadians, poverty is not a short-term setback but a prolonged condition one that current policies and programs are struggling to address.
