It's been said that in Ontario about one in five children live in poverty.
According to a census brief on child poverty based on data from the 2016 national census, 18.4% of children in Ontario live in low-income households (measured using LIM-AT). It's important to note that First Nations people living on reserve are excluded from this census calculation.
This rate differs slightly from the rate reported in the 2017 report card on child and family poverty in Ontario, which was based on 2015 data collected from income tax returns and Canada Child Tax Benefit records. This dataset includes First Nations people living on reserve and uses the census family as the unit of measure (not household). Under this methodology and calculation,17.2% of Ontario children under the age of 18 live in poverty (based on LIM-AT). The rate for children under the age of six was higher, at 18.8%.
Regional data
The rates of children living in low‑income households vary across the province. According to the census brief, among urban centres (CMAs), Windsor had the highest rate in the province at 24%, while Guelph had the lowest at 12.4%. Among smaller settlements (CAs), Hawkesbury had the highest rate in the province at 34.6%, while Petawawa had the lowest at 5%. Again, it's important to note that First Nations people living on reserve are excluded from this census calculation.
According to the census brief, 19.7% of children in Toronto live in low-income households. Another publication specifically looking at child poverty in Toronto and based on data from the census, reports that the total number of children in Toronto under the age of 18 and living in poverty (based on LIM-AT) is 125,675. This works out to be 26.3% of all children in the city – the highest rate among large urban areas (i.e. cities with populations greater than 500,000) in the country.
Indigenous children
According to census data tables, 29.5% of Indigenous children in Ontario under the age of 18 live in poverty (based on LIM-AT). While this rate is high, Indigenous child poverty may still be underrepresented in census data due to incomplete enumeration as well as other factors, such as non-response bias. For the 2016 census, there were 8 First Nation communities in Ontario that were not included in the census. In addition, Akwesasne was subject to a population review and its population count was subsequently revised; revisions are not reflected in data tables or other products.
Using unpublished data from Our Health Counts Toronto, a community-driven survey for Indigenous residents of Toronto, the report on child poverty in Toronto found that 84% of Indigenous families with children in the city live in poverty (using the Low-Income Cut-Off Before Tax measure or LICO-BT). For comparison, census data for Toronto (also using LICO-BT) reports that 27.1% of Indigenous children in Toronto under the age of 18 live in poverty.