People with disabilities twice as likely to have food insecurity, StatCan report says

A new Statistics Canada report says people with disabilities are twice as likely to live in food insecure households than those without disabilities.

The report used data from the 2021 Canadian Income Survey and found 26.4 per cent of respondents with a disability experienced some level of food insecurity, compared to 12.5 per cent of people without disabilities.

The report says the odds of food insecurity were higher for people with a disability even after accounting for income and employment, among other factors.

The severity of food insecurity ranged from worrying about running out of food to compromising quality or quantity of food, to missing entire meals.

The report found people with disabilities affecting their sight, learning, memory or cognition were most likely to have some level of food insecurity, while those with developmental disabilities had the highest level of severe household food insecurity.

The StatCan report includes the provinces but not the territories as their income survey data was not yet available.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.