Statistics Canada says income gap between Canada's rich and poor has reached record high

 

 

Statistics Canada says income gap between Canada's rich and poor has reached record high. The income gap between the country's highest- and lowest-income households reached a record high in the first quarter of 2025, Statistics Canada says.

In the first three months of the fiscal year, wealthy households had more money to spend than poor households. The gap between the two groups widened by 49 percentage points, Statistics Canada says. The gap has widened each year since COVID, Statistics Canada says. In the first quarter of 2025, wealthy households received more money from their investments. But poor households also saw their incomes fall as wages fell.

In the first quarter of 2025, the income of the poorest 20 percent of households increased by only 3.2 percent compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the income of the richest 20 percent of households increased by a huge amount. They saw an increase of 7.7 percent compared to the same period last year.