Report: Nova Scotia has highest child poverty rate in Atlantic Canada
Posted Nov 26, 2015 07:27:29 AM.
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HALIFAX – A child poverty report card says an increasing number of children live in poverty in Canada and that includes Nova Scotia.
The report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives finds almost one-in-five children live in poverty in the country, with Nova Scotia representing the third-highest poverty rate by province and highest in Atlantic Canada.
The study used the, ‘low income measure’ to define poverty, which would include families that fall below 50 per cent of the median income of Canada, or anyone in the 25th percentile of incomes.
The report suggests the provincial child poverty average is 22 per cent; Cape Breton has the highest rate of child poverty in Atlantic Canada, with one-in-three or 32.4 per cent suffering from low income. That’s compared to 18.7 per cent in Halifax.
Elsewhere, Kentville, New Glasgow and Truro were all above the provincial average of 22 per cent.
The study shows nearly half of the children living in single-parent families in Nova Scotia live below the low-income measure, compared to only 11.3 per cent of children living in two-parent families.
The reports author, Lesley Frank, said in any given year families living below the low income measure are short by $750 per month, or roughly $9,000 per year. She said that’s the money needed to just bring them up to the poverty line.
Frank said in reality, this translates into “children not having enough food to eat, not participating in activities with other children they go to school with, living in sub-standard housing and not having access to transportation,” Frank said adding, “that’s just a start.”
She said there are several negative side effects of children living in poverty that can follow them throughout their lives.
“Children that grow up in poor families are disenfranchised I guess you could say on measures of health outcomes, but they also experience lower educational attainment,” Frank said.
“They often experience more crime in their lives as well, those are just a few things that can happen.”
The report calls for governments to make specific child poverty targets, as well as boost minimum wage in the province.
