No. 30 - Food insecurity among seniors

Very few seniors in Canada worry about not having enough to eat because of lack of money. In 1998-1999, it was the case for 4% of Canadians aged 65 and over. In contrast, that year, 14% of children under age 18, 12% of those aged 18-44, and 8% of 45-64-year-olds lived in a food-insecure household. Still, that year, close to 136,000 seniors worried about not having enough to eat.

Seniors in Canada are also less likely than younger people to have compromised diets due to lack of funds. In 1998-1999, only 3% of seniors either did not have enough food, or lacked sufficient variety or quality in their diet, as opposed to 10% or over of those under age 45 and 6% of people aged 46-64.

Percentage of people with food insecurities, 1998-1999

Source: Statistics Canada