Food insecurity worsened last year, more pronounced in racialized families: StatCan

A Statistics Canada study says nearly seven million Canadians struggled with hunger last year.

The study says that in 2022, 18 per cent of families reported experiencing food insecurity within the previous 12 months, up from 16 per cent in 2021.

It says food insecurity was the lowest in Quebec at 14 per cent and highest in Newfoundland and Labrador at 23 per cent, followed by New Brunswick and Alberta, which both sat at 22 per cent.

The study authors define food insecurity as the lack of an adequate quality of diet or sufficient quantity of food.

Families where a woman was the main breadwinner were more likely to face food insecurity, and the rate shot up to 41 per cent for homes where women were single parents.

The study found homes with a racialized breadwinner reported higher food insecurity compared with a non-racialized, non-Indigenous earner, and this was especially true for Black Canadians.

The Canadian Press