One in three Canadians was living in a household that was struggling financially last month, a Statistics Canada report has found.

Thirty-three percent of survey respondents, aged 15 and older, said it was either difficult or very difficult throughout the month of October to pay for essentials like housing, food, clothing, and transportation.

While the number is a 2.4 percent improvement from October 2022, it is “notably higher than the proportion recorded in October 2020 (20.4 percent),” the Nov. 3 report reads.