Measuring low income and Canada's Official Poverty Line

Consultation objectives

From October 15, 2018 to January 31, 2019, Statistics Canada is conducting a consultation to gather input from Canadians to help validate how we are measuring poverty.

Recently, the Government of Canada announced that the Market Basket Measure (MBM) will be used as Canada's Official Poverty Line. Statistics Canada is currently conducting a comprehensive review of the MBM.

The MBM is a measure of low income which is based on the cost of a basket of goods and services that individuals and families require to meet their basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living. Wherever individuals and families are living across the country, if they cannot afford the cost of this basket of goods and services in their particular community, they will be considered to be living below Canada's Official Poverty Line.

By participating in this consultation, you will be supporting Statistics Canada's ability to accurately measure low income and poverty.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed.

Canadians provided Statistics Canada with their input on how to measure poverty.

Statistics Canada thanks all those who participated in the consultation.

Your data is protected by Statistics Canada

All submissions are completely anonymous

How is my data protected?

Statistics Canada is committed to respecting the privacy of its respondents. All personal information collected by the agency is protected by the Privacy Act.