Child Poverty: The number or percentage of people under the age of 18 living in poverty 546,000 children across the country live in conditions of poverty. 20.6% of children in British Columbia live in poverty. 1 in 5 Edmontonian children (under the age of 18) live in poverty, which increases to 1 in 3 children in single-parent families. 40% of indigenous children in Canada live in poverty. In 2011, 13.3% of all children in Canada (male and female) lived in poverty.