Canadians going hungry at four-year high? The national data says otherwise
Statistics Canada puts household food insecurity at 24 per cent in 2025, down from 25.7 per cent the year before, even as food bank visits and survey-measured strain climb.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
A Daily Hive Ottawa piece this week ran under the line that more Canadians are going hungry, with food insecurity at a four-year high. For anyone in Ottawa who has watched grocery totals climb, the national numbers tell a more complicated story. Statistics Canada's Canadian Income Survey, released in April, puts household food insecurity at 24.0 per cent in 2025, down from 25.7 per cent in 2024, or about 9.8 million people.
The 'four-year high' framing comes from a Salvation Army survey, not from that federal data. The Salvation Army's 2026 Canadian Poverty and Socioeconomic Analysis is an online panel of 1,525 Canadians fielded between Sept. 11 and 18, weighted by age, gender and region, and it excludes Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Because it is a non-probability sample, no margin of error can be calculated; the report cites plus or minus 2.5 points only as a comparison figure for a probability sample. The survey also included 180 current or past Salvation Army service users.
Its findings are strong. Thirty-one per cent of respondents said they had skipped or cut meals because they could not afford groceries, up from 27 per cent last year. Among Canadians aged 18 to 34, that figure is 41 per cent.
Food affordability rose to 37 per cent as a top national concern, up from 26 per cent. Use of community food supports climbed to 15 per cent from 11 per cent. Food Banks Canada's HungerCount 2026 points the same way on demand.
Its count of 2,355,075 visits in March 2026 was 8.7 per cent above March 2025 and 117 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, with about 776,000 of those visits by children. The Salvation Army's own survey found charitable giving fell to 75 per cent of Canadians reporting monetary donations, from 79 per cent in 2025.
The two sources measure different things. The Statistics Canada figure tracks household food insecurity over the year; the Salvation Army asks about skipped meals and attitudes in a single month. A food bank visit count reflects demand at the door, not the national rate.
The Salvation Army's Ontario division spokesperson, Captain Gina Haggett, said the same pressures are being felt across the province, and national spokesperson Glenn van Gulik said many families are choosing between food, housing and other basic necessities. Next, the survey's open questions remain: how many of the 31 per cent who skipped meals are among the 180 service users, and what response federal or provincial governments will give to these figures.
Which survey measure did the four-year high claim rely on, and how does it compare with Statistics Canada's household figures?
How many of the 31 per cent who skipped meals are in the 180-person service-user subgroup?
What response, if any, have federal or provincial governments given to these figures?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
