Child food insecurity in Canada, by province: where kids go hungry
Nearly one in three Canadian children lived in a food-insecure household in 2025. This is the provincial and territorial breakdown — where child food insecurity is worst, who is most affected, and what is driving it.
Child food insecurity is one of the clearest measures of how the cost-of-living crisis lands on the most vulnerable Canadians. In 2025, nearly one in three children in the ten provinces lived in a household that struggled to afford the food it needed. That is not a fringe statistic — it is roughly 2.4 million kids. This post breaks the numbers down by province and territory, using the most recent data from the Canadian Income Survey as analysed by PROOF, the University of Toronto research team that monitors household food insecurity in Canada.
The national picture
30.8%
In 2025, 30.8 percent of children under 18 in the ten provinces lived in a food-insecure household — about 2.4 million children. That was down slightly from 2024, when the rate hit 32.9 percent and roughly 2.5 million children were affected. The small decline of about 118,000 children is welcome, but it follows years of sharp increases: child food insecurity is still far above where it sat before grocery inflation took off in 2021.
Crucially, this is not mostly a story of mild hardship. Nearly 78 percent of food-insecure children — about 1.9 million kids — were in households experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning the quality or quantity of food they ate was compromised, or family members skipped meals or went without eating because there was not enough money for food.
Where child food insecurity is worst
Rates vary enormously across the country. In 2025, the jurisdictions with the highest share of children living in food-insecure households were:
Nunavut — 67.6 percent of children (roughly two in three)
New Brunswick — 38.1 percent of children
Saskatchewan — 36.2 percent of children
67.6%
Nunavut is in a category of its own. Roughly two out of every three children there live in a food-insecure household — the highest rate anywhere in Canada by a wide margin, driven by extreme grocery prices in fly-in communities, limited local food production, and the legacy of colonial disruption to traditional food systems. The territory's overall household food insecurity rate in 2025 was 56.4 percent, more than double the rate of any province.
Among the provinces, the Atlantic and Prairie regions consistently sit at the top. New Brunswick had the highest provincial child rate in 2025 at 38.1 percent, and the year before, in 2024, both Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick tied as the worst provinces for children at 39.9 percent each. In 2023 it was Prince Edward Island, where 41 percent of children — two in five — lived in food-insecure homes. The specific province at the top shifts year to year, but the pattern is stable: Atlantic Canada and the Prairies carry the heaviest burden.
The provincial breakdown, by overall rate
Statistics Canada and PROOF do not publish a full child-specific rate for every province each year, but the overall household food insecurity rate tracks closely with the child rate and shows the same geography. Here is how the provinces and territories ranked on overall household food insecurity in 2025:
Nunavut — 56.4% (highest in Canada)
Alberta — 28.4%
New Brunswick — 28.2%
Manitoba — 27.9%
Quebec — 18.0% (lowest among the provinces)
Northwest Territories — 16.4%
Yukon — 15.5%
A few things stand out. Alberta and the Prairie provinces post some of the highest provincial rates despite relatively strong average incomes — a reminder that food insecurity is about the gap between what households earn and what they must spend, not just headline wages. In 2024, Alberta also had the highest rate of severe food insecurity of any province at 8.7 percent.
Quebec is the consistent low outlier among the provinces, at 18.0 percent overall in 2025 and the lowest severe food insecurity rate (3.7 percent in 2024). Researchers generally attribute Quebec's comparative advantage to a stronger social safety net — including subsidized childcare and more generous family benefits — and a competitive discount grocery market that keeps food prices lower than much of the country.
Wondering how your province compares on grocery prices specifically? Quebec and Alberta tend to run below the national average, while British Columbia and the territories are the most expensive. Grocery Saver tracks real deals across chains in your city so you can cut your bill wherever you live.
Which families are hit hardest
Child food insecurity is not spread evenly within provinces. Some household types are dramatically more exposed:
Lone-parent families led by women — nearly half (47.4 percent) of people in these families were food-insecure in 2025
Black Canadians — 41.3 percent, the highest rate of any group reported
Indigenous Peoples living off-reserve — 34.7 percent, and almost certainly higher for on-reserve and remote Northern communities, who are underrepresented in the national survey
Families with children overall — 29.4 percent, well above the all-household average
The single-mother figure is the one to sit with: in a family headed by a woman on her own, the odds of food insecurity are close to a coin flip. When one income has to cover housing, childcare and food, food is the line item with the most give — and so it is the one that gets cut.
What is driving it
Child food insecurity is downstream of the same pressures driving record food bank use: it is the collision of several cost increases hitting low- and middle-income families at once.
Housing costs that swallow 40 to 60 percent of income for many lower-income households, leaving little for food
Grocery inflation that has compounded year after year since 2021
Wages and benefits that have not kept pace with the combined rise in housing, food and transport costs
The expiry of pandemic-era income supports that had temporarily reduced poverty
Higher interest rates that raised debt-carrying costs for households with mortgages or variable debt
"Food insecurity is fundamentally a problem of inadequate income. Families are not food-insecure because they lack budgeting skills — they are food-insecure because they do not have enough money."— PROOF, University of Toronto
Why a school food program is not enough
Canada launched a National School Food Program to help feed children at school, and it will make a real difference to kids who would otherwise go to class hungry. But researchers are careful to point out that school meals reach children for only part of the day, part of the year — and child food insecurity is a symptom of a whole household not having enough money. A child in a food-insecure home is hungry on weekends, over the summer, and at the dinner table, not just at lunch. The evidence consistently points to income-based policy — adequate social assistance, a living wage, and benefits like the Canada Child Benefit — as the tools that actually move the needle on the underlying problem.
What you can do
Donate to your local food bank — monetary donations stretch much further than canned goods because food banks buy at wholesale prices
Support school food and breakfast programs in your community
Advocate for income-based solutions: the research is clear that food insecurity is solved by money, not just food charity
If your family is struggling: food banks, school programs and community meals exist for you, and there is no shame in using them
Grocery Saver can't fix the income gap — but it can shrink the grocery side of it. We surface the real lowest prices across chains in your city each week, so the food budget goes further before it forces harder choices.
The takeaway
Nearly one in three Canadian children lives in a household that cannot reliably afford food, and in the hardest-hit jurisdictions that figure rises to two in five or — in Nunavut — two in three. The slight national improvement in 2025 is real but fragile, and it sits on top of years of deterioration. The geography is consistent: Atlantic Canada, the Prairies and the territories carry the heaviest load, Quebec carries the lightest, and single-mother, Black and Indigenous families are exposed everywhere. The numbers describe a problem of household income meeting the cost of housing and food — and they are a reminder that grocery affordability is not an abstraction. For 2.4 million Canadian kids, it is dinner.
Frequently asked questions
How many Canadian children are food-insecure?
In 2025, about 30.8 percent of children under 18 in the ten provinces — roughly 2.4 million children — lived in a food-insecure household, according to PROOF's analysis of Statistics Canada's Canadian Income Survey. Nearly 1.9 million of them were in moderately or severely food-insecure homes.
Which province has the highest child food insecurity in Canada?
Among the provinces, New Brunswick had the highest child food insecurity rate in 2025 at 38.1 percent, followed by Saskatchewan at 36.2 percent. In 2024, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick tied at 39.9 percent. Nunavut is far higher than any province, at 67.6 percent of children — about two in three.
Which province has the lowest food insecurity?
Quebec consistently has the lowest household food insecurity among the provinces — 18.0 percent overall in 2025, and the lowest rate of severe food insecurity. This is generally attributed to a stronger social safety net (including subsidized childcare and family benefits) and a competitive discount grocery market.
Why is child food insecurity so high in Nunavut?
Nunavut's rate — about 67.6 percent of children — reflects extremely high grocery prices in fly-in communities, limited local food production, low incomes relative to costs, and the disruption of traditional food systems. Its overall household food insecurity rate in 2025 was 56.4 percent, more than double any province.
Which families are most affected by child food insecurity?
Female lone-parent families are hit hardest — nearly half (47.4 percent) were food-insecure in 2025. Rates were also far above average for Black Canadians (41.3 percent) and Indigenous Peoples living off-reserve (34.7 percent), with on-reserve and remote Northern communities likely higher still.
Will the national school food program fix child food insecurity?
It will help feed kids at school, but researchers caution it is not a complete solution. Child food insecurity reflects a household not having enough income, so children remain affected on weekends, over the summer and at home. Evidence points to income-based policies — adequate social assistance, a living wage and child benefits — as what actually reduces it.
Put this into practice
Grocery Saver surfaces this week's biggest sale prices in your city and plans an optimized multi-store route so you can act on the kind of advice in this post in five minutes a week.