Poverty in Sask – 2019

In 2019 in Saskatchewan, 136 thousand of the 1.1 million people were poor, up from 123 thousand poor in 2016.  After yearly ups and downs, the poverty rate rose from 11.2 per cent in 2018 to 12.4 per cent in 2019. The poverty gap of 38 per cent means that for persons in poverty, average income was 38 per cent below the Official Poverty Line (OPL).

These statistics are from the newly released report Poverty in Saskatchewan – 2019  (See https://povertyfreesask.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/skp2019.pdf )  This report summarizes 2016 to 2019 Saskatchewan poverty trends and patterns using the OPL based on Statistics Canada data released in March 2021.

The highest poverty rates were among children under the age of 18 in female lone-parent families and persons aged 18 to 64 not living in families.  The report also highlighted high poverty rates among Indigenous persons, recent immigrants, visible minority persons, and persons with disabilities.

The statistics also show that poverty reduction in Saskatchewan lags behind other provinces.

These data refer to the period before the COVID-19 crisis – developments in 2020 are not reflected.