Kjipuktuk/Halifax – The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) released the 2025 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia: No Real Progress today, with partners Campaign 2000 and Fed Family Lab.
Findings based on the most recent comprehensive public data available (2023):
- 22.7 per cent of children (40,210 children) lived in poverty, a 4.6 per cent decrease from 2022.
- 26.4 per cent of children under 6 lived in poverty – that is over one in four.
- Nova Scotia has the highest rate of child poverty in Atlantic Canada and the third-highest provincial rate in Canada.
- 48.7 per cent of children in lone-parent families lived in poverty.
- Government income support benefits lifted 27,720 children in Nova Scotia out of poverty. Without these benefits, 38.4 per cent of children would have been living in poverty. This was the least effective reduction in Atlantic Canada.
- 38 per cent of children in Nova Scotia lived in food insecure households, representing 68,000 children.
Despite the data showing a slight decrease in child poverty, when one in five children lived in poverty, that is policy failure, not progress” said Dr. Christine Saulnier, co-author and Director, CCPA-NS.
“The structural drivers reflected in the 2023 data — low wages, inadequate income supports, and unaffordable housing — remain in place today. This government cannot claim progress while maintaining the lowest per-capita spending on social protection in Canada.”
“We know what works. The question is whether this government is prepared to invest at the scale required. As the Legislature opens, children and families deserve more than incremental change. The upcoming budget is the clearest opportunity to demonstrate whether reducing child poverty is truly a priority,” says report co-author and Acadia University Sociology professor and Director of Fed Family Lab, Dr. Lesley Frank.
“Seeing the persistent and often increasing poverty in Cape Breton and across the province is sobering,” says Dr. Monika Dutt, public health and family doctor, and Research Associate with CCPA-NS.
“It is especially troubling because these numbers represent children lacking basic supports during the most important time of their lives. Poverty impacts their ability to learn and thrive and has long-term impacts on their mental and physical health, including a higher risk of chronic diseases,” Dutt adds.
