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June 1996
A Statistical Profile of Urban Poverty
by Clarence Lochhead and Richard Shillington
This book provides the first ever comparative demographic profile of poverty in Canada's 25 largest urban
areas. The figures are taken from the 1991 Census, the most recent data available. The book's authors
document urban poverty by family type, age, sex, disability, visible minority status and Aboriginal origins.
The book also contains poverty profiles for each province and the country.
Some key findings:
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Images of poverty as a rural phenomenon are out of date. In 1994, roughly seven out of every 10
poor families lived in an urban centre with a population of 100,000 or more.
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Poverty rates in urban Quebec are high compared with cities elsewhere in Canada. Four of the seven
Canadian cities with the highest poverty rates are in Quebec.
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Similar industrial bases in urban areas do not necessarily generate similar levels of income. For
example, Windsor and Oshawa, Ontario both depend on the automotive industry, but they have
widely divergent poverty rates.
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Among Canada's largest urban centres, Winnipeg, Montréal and Saskatoon have the highest rates of
poverty for children under the age of five. In these cities, one-quarter of preschool-aged children are
poor. By contrast, Oshawa and Kitchener, Ontario have the lowest rates.
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Families supported by one income earner are more likely to be poor in certain urban areas than in
others. For example, in Sudbury, Kitchener, Thunder Bay and Oshawa the proportion of poor one-earner families is much lower than in Montréal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.
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The effect of unemployment on poverty rates varies in urban areas. For example, Saskatoon and
Windsor have identical unemployment rates, but the rate of poverty in Saskatoon is 18 per cent and
in Windsor it is 13 per cent.
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The rate of poverty among seniors living in urban areas varies enormously. Only three per cent of
elderly families in Saskatoon, Regina and Oshawa live in poverty, but roughly 20 per cent of those
living in Winnipeg, Montréal and Quebec City are poor. Reasons may be related to the cost of living
in these different centres, and to the source of income for seniors. In some urban centres, today's
seniors are likely reaping the benefits of local economies that offered them good wages and benefits
before they retired.
Some sample data from A Statistical Profile of Urban Poverty:
Poverty Among Two-parent Families, 1990
Cities Ranked from Highest to Lowest Poverty Rate |
|---|
| | Total Couples with Children | Poverty Rate | % of Total with 2 or More Earners | Poverty Rate Among Families with 2 or More Earners | Poverty Rate Among Families with 1 Earner | % of
Poor Families with 2 or more Earners |
|---|
| Montréal | 315,555 | 14.4% | 73.6% | 7.1% | 25.4% | 36.1% |
| Winnipeg | 65,865 | 12.8% | 81.5% | 7.6% | 29.4% | 48.2% |
| Edmonton | 92,280 | 12.0% | 80.3% | 7.4% | 24.2% | 49.3% |
| Vancouver | 151,090 | 11.8% | 77.5% | 6.7% | 21.8% | 44.1% |
| Calgary | 83,225 | 11.5% | 79.1% | 7.3% | 23.1% | 50.3% |
| Trois-Rivières | 14,650 | 11.5% | 68.0% | 4.5% | 17.2% | 26.5% |
| Saskatoon | 22,935 | 11.2% | 80.5% | 6.7% | 23.1% | 48.1% |
| Sherbrooke | 14,935 | 11.2% | 76.8% | 4.9% | 18.6% | 33.7% |
| Toronto | 394,400 | 10.5% | 80.1% | 5.3% | 23.8% | 40.8% |
| Saint John | 13,795 | 10.0% | 73.8% | 4.4% | 19.6% | 32.7% |
| Regina | 21,395 | 9.8% | 84.0% | 5.4% | 24.7% | 46.0% |
| St. John's | 19,905 | 9.8% | 81.3% | 4.1% | 24.0% | 34.2% |
| Quebec | 69,705 | 9.6% | 76.8% | 4.8% | 18.8% | 38.7% |
| Hamilton | 62,010 | 9.1% | 79.7% | 4.6% | 19.9% | 40.8% |
| Windsor | 26,920 | 9.0% | 76.4% | 4.3% | 17.9% | 36.6% |
| Chicoutimi-Jonquière | 20,895 | 8.6% | 67.0% | 3.2% | 13.5% | 25.1% |
| Ottawa-Hull | 98,345 | 8.5% | 81.2% | 4.0% | 20.3% | 38.7% |
| London | 39,520 | 8.3% | 82.6% | 4.3% | 18.8% | 42.8% |
| Halifax | 34,330 | 7.6% | 78.2% | 4.2% | 14.8% | 43.7% |
| St.Catharines-Niagara | 36,955 | 7.6% | 79.1% | 4.2% | 15.0% | 43.5% |
| Victoria | 24,865 | 7.4% | 81.2% | 4.6% | 14.8% | 50.5% |
| Sudbury | 17,625 | 7.3% | 78.7% | 3.8% | 12.9% | 41.0% |
| Kitchener | 40,240 | 7.0% | 83.5% | 4.1% | 15.8% | 48.9% |
| Guelph | 10,625 | 6.2% | 81.7% | 3.8% | 13.8% | 50.4% |
| Thunder Bay | 12,685 | 5.4% | 82.2% | 2.7% | 12.9% | 41.6% |
| Oshawa | 28,925 | 4.8% | 80.4% | 2.7% | 9.8% | 45.1% |
| Source: Calculations by the Centre for International Statistics at the CCSD using special tabulations by Statistics Canada on the 1991 Census. |
A Statistical Profile of Urban Poverty - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
309 Cooper Street, 5th Floor,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0G5
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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