Low-Income Cutoffs

The low income cut-off (LICO), produced by Statistics Canada on an annual basis, is the income threshold below which a family will likely devote a 20 percent larger share of its income to the necessities of food, shelter, and clothing than would [Page 931]the average family. Although LICO was strongly influenced by the development of the U.S. official poverty line, Statistics Canada has, on several occasions, emphasized that LICO is not a poverty line and should not be interpreted as such. However, in the absence of an official poverty line, the LICO is still the most popularly cited poverty line in Canada.