Child poverty in Canada

Child poverty in Canada declined since 2015, with the number of children who were living in poverty decreasing 71% by 2020.

In 1989, with a million children living in poverty in Canada, members of parliament voted unanimously to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. By 2013, the rate child poverty in Canada was higher than it was in 1989, and was approaching the poverty rates of the mid-1970s in spite of the growth of Canada's economy between 1981 and 2010.

As of 2018, the rate of child poverty in Canada was close to the average of other OECD member nations.^: 8

Child poverty has a disproportionately high effect on Indigenous households in Canada. According to a 2019 study by researchers at the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), nearly 50% of Indigenous children in Canada—both on and off reserve—were living in poverty. In 2020, 4.7% of children under 18 were living in poverty, which was a significant decrease from the 9.7% child poverty rate in 2019. Other groups that are at a higher risk of experiencing poverty include children living in single-parent households and recent immigrants.