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% of families reported experiencing food insecurity within the previous 12 months, up from 16% in 2021.

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

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% 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.