Low-income rates drop among those over age 65

Statistics Canada has come out with a new report on the economic situation of older persons in Canada showing the low-income rates of women and men over age 65 have dropped significantly since the study period in question (the report, Overview of the Economic Situation of Older Persons in Canada, 1976 to 2022 looks back as far as the late 1970s).

The study released looks at low-income rates, income and sources of income of older persons in Canada and focuses on the experience of different groups of older women in Canada during the study period.

It found that between 1976 and 1995 the low-income rates of older women and men dropped by 60.6 per cent for older women when median, after-tax income is measured, and 51.7 per cent for older men. The change, they say, was mainly attributed to government transfers which increased over this period.

Increases in market income 

From 1996 to 2002, meanwhile, government transfers continued to increase for older women but at a slower pace than prior to 1996. Government transfers to older men decreased 4.5 per cent during the same period. “This period is also marked by important increases in market income (e.g., employment income, private retirement income and investment income) for older women (80.6 per cent) and older men (50.8 per cent),” they write.

Government transfers still accounted for 43.1 per cent of the total income of older women in 2022, down from 58.2 per cent of their total income in 1995 and 61.4 per cent in 1976.

“Until 2012, more than 50 per cent of the total income of older women came from government transfers. In comparison, government transfers accounted for 35.1 per cent of the total income of older men in 1976, 44.8 per cent in 1995 and 32.3 per cent in 2022,” they state.

“Overall, the disparity in terms of low-income and poverty rates, median income, and sources of income between older women and men as well as the variations in low income and poverty rates among different groups of older women illustrate the importance of using a gender-based analysis plus lens,” they conclude.