No. 18 - Low income across the country

There is considerable variation in the proportion of seniors with low incomes in different provinces. In 1998, in the provinces in which the sample size was large enough to produce accurate estimates, the percentage of seniors with low income ranged from 30% in Quebec to 14% in Ontario, with 25% of seniors in Manitoba, 19% in British Columbia, 18% in Saskatchewan, 17% in both Nova Scotia and Alberta, and 15% in New Brunswick having incomes below the low-income cut-offs.

There was similar variation in the proportion of senior women and men with low incomes across the country. In 1998, the percentage of senior women with low incomes ranged from 18% in Ontario to 36% in Quebec, while the figures for men varied from a low of just 9% in Ontario to a high of 21% in Quebec. In all provinces, senior women were considerably more likely than their male counterparts to have low incomes.

Percentage of seniors with low income, by province, 1998

Source: Statistics Canada