Reading Recommendation: First Call’s 2024 BC Child Poverty Report Card

Every year, First Call BC releases their BC Child Poverty Report Card. This month we invite you to read the report that came out in late November 2024, covering 2022 data. 

Our sectors look to this report card for a deeper understanding of the state of child poverty in our province. Direct service organisations in our community use this data to help inform and make the case for their important and innovative programming, while funders in the sphere look to it to help guide decision making around where their funding can make the biggest impact. The report comes with a set of widely supported recommendations for all levels of government.

Here’s a summary of the report.

• As predicted, the child poverty rate continued to rise between 2021 and 2022, for the second year in a row (following a small dip in poverty rates due to pandemic income support provided in 2020). One in six of all BC children were living in poverty in 2022. On BC First Nations reserves, 35 percent of children were living in poverty.

• Children in lone-parent families have the highest risk of living in poverty. They are nearly five times more likely to be poor than couple families with children. Forty-four percent of lone-parent families in BC were food insecure.

• The depth of poverty for poor families increased, while the cost of living rose faster than their incomes. The median family living in poverty would have had to make over $1,100 more per month to reach the poverty line.

• Income inequality in BC is growing. BC is the second-most unequal province in the country. The average after-tax income for the top 10% of lone-parent families in BC were at 59 times the average income for lone-parent families in the lowest decile, almost double the Canadian ratio (30). 

• Welfare incomes for BC families, adjusted for inflation, went down in value for the second year in a row in 2022. The buying power of welfare incomes decreased dramatically for both single parents and couples with children. The income for a single parent on welfare with one child in BC in 2022 was just $25,876, which fell $15,429 short of the poverty line.

• Many families experiencing poverty include one or more working adults. A couple family with two children — with both parents working full-time — would still fall below the poverty line for a four-person family.

So, how do we address this? The report lists twenty-four recommendations for all levels of government. Here at SVP Vancouver, we view the results from the 2024 BC Child Poverty Report Card as evidence of the critical nature of our work supporting the work of the Investees. 

We encourage those interested to read the full report and share your thoughts with us!

Read the full report here.