1 in 4 Canadians Fear Income Won’t Cover Basic Needs: Salvation Army Poll

A new survey suggests one in four Canadians are extremely concerned about having enough income to cover their basic needs, with the highest degree of hardship being felt by single parents. The Salvation Army released the data on Dec. 18 as part of their annual report examining Canadians’ attitudes and experiences with poverty and related socioeconomic issues. Among single parents, closer to half are reporting extreme concern about meeting basic needs at 40 percent, while the numbers clock in at 31 percent for single-person households and 31 percent for caregivers. The research by Edelman Data and Intelligence suggests one in five Canadians are eating less so their children or other family members could eat, and one in five also skipped or reduced the size of at least one meal in the last year because they couldn’t afford groceries. Those numbers jump again to nearly half for single parents....