Hunger real for 7 million Canadians as inflation gnaws away food security – Hope Standard
Statistics Canada say 18% of the country dealt with food insecurity in 2022
Nearly seven million Canadians struggled with hunger last year, with some going without food for days amid rising inflation, says a Statistics Canada study.
In 2022, 18 per cent of families in Canada reported experiencing food insecurity within the previous 12 months — up from 16 per cent in 2021, Statistics Canada says in its report, released Tuesday. The agency defines food insecurity as the lack of an adequate quality of diet or sufficient quantity of food.
“Food insecurity is a serious concern as it has been found to be associated with various chronic conditions, mental health problems, and other diseases and infections,” the study says. “It has also been found to increase the likelihood of hospitalization and has been linked to premature mortality, and as such, puts pressure on the health-care system.”
The study says that high inflation has increased the cost of food and reduced the purchasing power of consumers, “causing families to buy less.”
The year-over-year inflation rate jumped from one per cent in January 2021 to 4.8 per cent in December of that year; the annual rate of food inflation increased from one per cent to 5.2 per cent over the same period. By June 2022, the overall inflation rate was 8.1 per cent and food was 8.8 per cent — the largest yearly change in 40 years, the study says.
