Forty-four per cent of GTA residents are losing sleep due to financial stress, according to a new poll
And 42 per cent of GTA-based respondents said they’re struggling with food insecurity
New poll results published by the United Way paint a disturbing picture when it comes to the personal finance-related hardships of GTA residents.
According to the organization’s Financial Anxiety Index, released today, 63 per cent of GTA-based respondents reported feeling anxious about their finances, with 44 per cent saying they lose sleep over financial stress—this is more than the poll’s national average of 40 per cent, which is still a shocking number of people unable to sleep due to financial worry.
Related: Ontario’s mortgage delinquency rate has spiked by 52 per cent
Also deeply concerning, according to the poll, is that 42 per cent of GTA residents say they are struggling with food insecurity, again above the poll’s national average of 38 per cent.
The poll was conducted for the United Way last February and March by Léger.
“The story behind the data is people having to make difficult choices, losing sleep over bills, increased family stress, struggling to focus at work, or going without food,” Dan Clement, the president and CEO of United Way Centraide Canada said in a statement accompanying the results. “This is not a crisis on the horizon. It is happening now, in communities across the country.”
Related: Could city-run grocers be the answer to Toronto’s high food costs?
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
