According to recently released data from Statistics Canada, 4.7 million Canadians (13.8% of the population) were considered to be low-income in 2012. About one in six children in Canada (16.3%), lived in low-income households that year.
Note: it is difficult to make comparisons with previous years’ low-income statistics, because the 2012 reference year was the first for the new Canadian Income Survey, which used a different methodology than the previous income survey by Statistics Canada.
Link to news article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/nearly-5-million-canadians-in-low-income-status-2012-research-shows/article22020841/