Where does the time go?

This seems to be a question that many people ask themselves these days. With work, school, children, relationships and chores taking up most of our time, there is always something that needs to be done, and the constant feeling of playing catch-up leaves little time for yourself. If you’ve been feeling this way, you are not alone.

In the third quarter of 2024, more than one-third (35.5%) of Canadians aged 15 years and over rated their satisfaction with the amount of free time they have as low (from 0 to 5 on a scale of 0 to 10). This share was the highest among those aged 25 to 54 years (46.8%) and lowest among those aged 65 years and over (17.0%).

For those aged 25 to 54 years old, a lot of time was spent working. In 2022, people in this age group averaged 9.0 hours a day on paid work, studying or learning activities, and unpaid work like household chores and childcare. On average, they spent less than one hour per day on personal activities.

For those aged 65 years and over, less time was spent on work, as more people in this age group had entered retirement. Nonetheless, they averaged 0.6 hours per day on paid work activities and 3.5 hours per day on unpaid work activities in 2022.

Ever wonder what other people are doing with their time? Check out Statistics Canada’s Time use in Canada: interactive visualization tool, which allows you to see the percentage of participants in various activities by time of day.

Based on data from the 2022 Time Use Survey, the visualization tool also makes it easy to see trends in how people spend their time on weekends versus weekdays, and differences in time use by age and gender.