How much money do Canadians spend on child support?
Statistics Canada shared the survey data.
Statistics Canada has calculated how much it costs on average to raise children. It turned out that the average family needs CA$ 293,000 to support a child and raise him or her to the age of 17.
What other variations are there?
Sociologists consider an "average" family to be one that consists of two parents with median salaries and two children. If the family income is estimated as low (less than CA$ 83,013 per year before taxes), then the expenses for each child are reduced — to CA$ 238,190. If parents earn significantly more than the average, they spend more on their children. High income in Canada is a budget of more than CA$ 135,970, and then each child has CA$ 403,910.
The default assumption is that once the children reach adulthood, they move out and become independent. However, if not, each year of cohabitation with a child between the ages of 18 and 22 will cost the happy parents an additional CA$ 68,000 to CA$ 117,000.
In single-parent families, raising each of two children will cost CA$ 372,110 — if that parent has a middle or high income. In the case of less well-off single parents, they will spend on average about CA$ 231,260.
Is that a lot?
Whether these numbers are related to the steady decline in Canada's birth rate is hard to say. But in any case, it has been falling steadily for the past decade, and in 2022 it reached its lowest level in 17 years.
The data is based on surveys conducted from 2014 to 2017, but has only now been processed and released. Since then, inflation has only made life more expensive for adult and young Canadians and Canadians. The average Canadian now spends almost a third of their income on housing, about 20% on transportation, 17% on food and another 14% on child care and education.
Hope for a better future
In recent years, the government has been trying to support families with children. For example, daycare fees have become half as low thanks to investments in a national program created in 2021. It is expected to be CA$ 10 per day by 2026.
