Statistics Canada
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Seniors satisfied with their lives
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Four million Canadians have reached the official retirement age—and aging for them is not necessarily synonymous with illness, dependency, poverty, inactivity or social withdrawal. Seniors aged 65 to 74 today devote less time to paid work than when they were aged 55 to 64, and more time to unpaid work in the home and leisure activities.
Canadians aged 65 to 74 engaged in leisure activities for most of their day—7.8 hours for men and 7.2 hours for women in 2005. Men aged 75 and older spent even more time—8.0 hours a day—on leisure; women spent 7.9 hours. Retired women spend more time than men on domestic chores, yet leisure activities still take up more of their day.
Both men and women aged 65 to 74 in 2005 devoted more time on average to active leisure—such as physical exercise, reading and going out and socializing—than to passive leisure—such as watching television, listening to music or to the radio. Men aged 75 and older spent the same number of hours on active leisure as on passive leisure. But active leisure continues to predominate later in life for women aged 75 and older.
Women aged 65 to 74 spent more time than men that age doing unpaid work in 2005. On average, they also devoted the same number of hours to unpaid work as younger women. Men aged 65 to 74 spent, on average, more hours on unpaid work than those in the youngest age group.
Seniors, especially those aged 65 to 74, are more satisfied with their life than those 25 to 64. Whatever their age, the seniors who are the least healthy and the least satisfied are those who spend the most time on passive leisure.
