Analysis series Income of Canadian families

Methodology

Definition of family

For the 2001 Census, several important changes were made to the concept of “census family” used in earlier censuses:

• Two persons living in a same-sex common-law relationship, along with either partner’s children, are now considered a census family.
  
• Children in a census family may now have been previously married. In previous censuses they had to be “never-married.”
  
• A grandchild living in a three-generation household where the parent is never-married is now considered a child in the census family of his or her parent. In previous censuses, the census family consisted of the two older generations and the child was considered a non-census family person.
  
• A grandchild of another household member, where the middle generation is not present, will now be considered a child in the census family of his or her grandparent. In previous censuses, the grandchild was considered a non-census family person.

The table below shows the effect of the new definitions on census families’ median incomes.

Census families’ median income, by family type and 2001 and 1996 Census definitions of census families, Canada, 2000

Low income

Low-income cutoffs are based on the 1992 Family Expenditure Survey and are calculated using the concept of economic families, which is slightly broader than census families. Once the low-income status of the economic family has been determined, it is applied to all the census families within that economic family. The incomes in all the census years examined in this analytical article are expressed in 2000 constant dollars and are compared with the appropriate low-income cutoff value in the table below.

Low-income cutoffs¹ based on total income before tax, Canada, 2000

1. Low-income cutoffs are based on the 1992 Family Expenditure Survey and are expressed in constant 2000 dollars.

Since its initial publication, Statistics Canada has clearly and consistently emphasized that the low-income cutoffs (LICOs) are not measures of poverty. Rather, LICOs reflect a consistent and well-defined methodology that identifies those who are substantially worse-off than the average. These measures have enabled Statistics Canada to report important trends, such as the changing composition of those below the LICOs over time. For a more detailed discussion of Statistics Canada’s low-income measure, consult the article “On poverty and low-income.”

For the purposes of low-income statistics, economic families and unattached individuals in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, in institutions, and on Indian reserves are excluded. Survey data used to estimate low-income cutoffs based on family income-expenditure patterns are not sufficient to estimate cutoffs for the entire population.

In the 2001 Census, unlike previous censuses, two people living in a same-sex common-law relationship are considered members of the same economic family. Due to this change in the definition of economic families, low-income rates from the 2001 Census are not strictly comparable to those from previous censuses. The impact of the change in definition on the low-income rate is shown in the table below.

Low-income rates, by age group and 2001 and 1996 Census definitions of economic families, Canada, 2000

Canada Child Tax Benefit

Rather than collect the Canada Child Tax Benefit information directly from respondents, the 2001 Census calculated, where applicable, benefits based on the number of children in the family and the family income.