Majority (56%) of Canadians Underestimate the Proportion of Children who go to School Hungry During the School Year

But Most (97%) Believe a Child’s Food Intake Impacts Their Ability to Learn in the Classroom

Toronto, ON – Canadians underestimate the proportion of children who go to school hungry during the school year, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Breakfast for Learning. The survey revealed that a majority (56%) of Canadians believe the proportion of students that go to school hungry is either 1 in 100 (14%) or 1 in 20 (43%), while only a minority (44%) correctly identified the proportion as being 1 in 6 students who go to school hungry during the school year.

Despite underestimating the proportion of children who go to school hungry, almost all Canadians (97%) believe it has an impact (79% very much/18% somewhat) on a child’s ability to learn in the classroom, while just 3% believe it doesn’t’ (1% not at all/2% not very much).

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between March 4 and 9, 2015 on behalf of Breakfast for Learning. For this survey, a sample of 1,010 Canadians from Ipsos’ Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ – 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Sean Simpson
Vice President
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
sean.simpson@ipsos.com

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