Kjipuktuk/Halifax – The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) released the 2025 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty on Prince Edward Island: Complacency is Disgraceful today with the MacKillop Centre for Social Justice. Child poverty remained essentially unchanged from 2022 and the number of children living in poverty increased.
Findings based on 2023 data:
- 16.7 per cent of children (5,060 children) on PEI lived in poverty. The change from 2022 was less than one per cent, but the number of children living in poverty increased by 60.
- Children under 6 had even higher rates of poverty at 17.6 per cent.
- Child poverty rates differed by geographic region. Child poverty in rural communities ranged from a high of 33.3 per cent in Belle River to a low of 6.7 per cent in Emyvale.
- Children living in one-parent families had the highest rate of child poverty on PEI at 38.3 per cent.
- Government transfers are critical: without them, 35.1 per cent of children on PEI would have lived in poverty.
- 31.2 per cent of children on PEI lived in food insecurity households.
- PEI is not on track to meet its legislated targets in the Poverty Elimination Strategy Act. In fact, the rates for food insecurity and child poverty have risen from their 2018 baseline.
Mary Boyd, report co-author and director of the MacKillop Centre for Social Justice, says of this year’s report card, “This report card outlines the situation of poverty in PEI and offers ways to transform the situation. It challenges the complacency that will harm many Island children and their families for many decades if the current snail’s pace continues.”
Boyd continues, “We need a wake up call about poverty and the complacency that continues to victimize children and their families, especially the youngest and keeps its eradication at a snail’s pace. The report card shows that eradication is possible and can happen soon if the government will only fulfill its obligation; otherwise it will continue for centuries.”
Ruby Harrington, report co-author and Communications and Outreach Officer for CCPA-NS, highlights the inadequacy of the newly introduced PEI child benefit: “When PEI’s child benefit rolled out in 2025, the maximum benefit amount of $30 a month was not even enough to buy a single can of infant formula – which was $44.56 at the beginning of the year, and $50.10 by November. Although implementing the benefit is a good start, it is simply not enough to actually make a meaningful difference for parents across the Island.”
Dr. Christine Saulnier, co-author and CCPA-NS director, says, “Behind these statistics are parents doing everything they can to support their children, while often sacrificing their own needs to make ends meet. These numbers represent real hardship.”
She adds, “With the upcoming budget, the PEI government has the fiscal capacity to accelerate progress. The long-term economic and social returns of reducing child poverty are well established. Failing to act decisively risks limiting the potential of another generation of children. PEI’s future depends on families with children being able to thrive.”
