October 28, 2025 – Food Banks Canada has released their new HungerCount 2025 Report, which highlights one of the most significant challenges facing Canada today: food insecurity, which is becoming increasingly routine. The full report details new findings as well as solutions informed by them.
Since 1989, Food Banks Canada’s annual HungerCount Report has been Canada’s only national study analyzing food bank usage and food insecurity. It offers a uniquely comprehensive lens into the scale and drivers of poverty and hunger, as it is the only research initiative that draws on data from more than 5,500 food banks and community organizations across the country – as well as multiple surveys conducted on behalf of Food Banks Canada by Pollara Strategic Insights.
Food insecurity is growing in the wrong direction, with monthly visits to Canada’s food banks doubling since 2019 and hitting close to 2.2 million visits in March 2025 alone. HungerCount 2025 underscores this crisis – one that is normalizing hunger and quietly eroding Canada’s human potential.
It’s clear that volunteer efforts and donations, while vital, are no longer enough. Food Banks Canada is calling for bold legislative action reverse current trends in order to support low-income workers, food-insecure children, affordable housing, and adequate social benefits.
The following key findings from HungerCount 2025 illustrate the scale and the urgency of food insecurity in Canada:
- Monthly visits to Canada’s food banks have doubled since 2019 – hitting close to 2.2 million visits in March 2025 alone.
- Nearly 1 in 5 food bank clients (19.4%) are employed but still can’t make ends meet, compared to just over 1 in 10 (12.2%) in 2019.
- One-third (33%) of food bank clients are children – representing nearly 712,000 monthly visits in 2025, up by over 300,000 monthly visits compared to 2019.
- Nearly 1 in 4 households (23.1%) that rely on food banks are two-parent families, compared to 18.8% in 2019.
- 70% of food bank clients live in market rent housing.
- 8.3% of food bank clients in Canada are seniors – up from 6.8% in 2019.
To read the full report, please visit the Food Banks Canada website.
