|
Basic needs poverty lines are intended to measure
the number and proportion of Canadians who cannot afford the
basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, and
other household essentials. Since 1992, this measure has been an
important alternative to prevailing "relative" poverty lines like
Statistics Canada's Low Income Cutoff (LICO) that considers how
well off some Canadians are relative to others. This Fraser Alert
uses the most recent data available (2004) to update the basic
needs poverty lines and estimates poverty in Canada. the findings
are encouraging: poverty in Canada, including child poverty, has
fallen dramatically since 1951 and, notably, has continued to
decline recently after leveling off during the 1980s and early
1990s.
|