2011 National Household Survey: The Jewish Community of Montreal. Part 3: Jewish Seniors. Part 4: The Jewish Poor

Among the highlights of this 2011 Statistics Canada survey are: there were 18,525 Jewish elderly 65+ years residing in the Montreal CMA in 2011. Seniors comprised 20.4% of the 90,780 members of Montreal’s Jewish community. There were 9,720 Jews 75+ years, comprising 10.7% of the Montreal Jewish population. These figures do not include Jewish seniors living in institutions. The percentage of elderly in the Montreal Jewish community (20.4%) was much higher than the proportion of seniors in the overall Montreal population (13.5%). It was also higher than the percentage of elderly in the Canadian Jewish population (16.9%). Almost half (44.8%) of elderly Jewish women lived alone, comprising 4,540 individuals. Only 17.3% of Jewish men lived in single person households, comprising 1,455 persons. There were 3,950 elderly women and 695 elderly men in the Montreal Jewish community who were widowed in 2011. A total of 3,615 seniors lived below the poverty line, or 19.5% of the elderly Jewish population. More than a third (39.8%) of elderly women who lived alone were poor, comprising 1,810 individuals. The number of poor elderly women in single person households was more than three times that of men. For the overall Montreal CMA Jewish population, 18,130 were living below the poverty line in 2011. The poor comprised 20% of a total Jewish population of 90,780 in the Montreal CMA. The percentage of economically disadvantaged has been steadily rising in the Montreal Jewish community. In 1981 there were 15.5% poor, compared to 17.7% in 1991, 18.6% in 2001, and 20% in 2011. The level of poverty among children 0-14 years in the Montreal Jewish population was 20.5%. There were 3,655 children in the local Jewish community who lived in economically disadvantaged circumstances. More than a third (34%) of individuals living in female single parent families were economically disadvantaged. The poverty level of children under 15 years living in these families is remarkably high (51%). There were 2,870 “working poor” in the local Jewish community who earned wages that were not sufficient to push their income above the poverty line.

Montreal

Federation CJA and Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA

September 2014

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