Health Fact Sheets
Life satisfaction, 2015

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Release date: March 22, 2017

In 2015, 93.2% of Canadians aged 12 and older, or roughly 27.3 million people, reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with life.Note 1 Overall there was no difference in life satisfaction between the sexes.

Life satisfaction is a personal subjective assessment of global well-being. In the Canadian Community Health Survey, respondents are asked to rate their life satisfaction on an 11-point scale (0–10), where zero represents “very dissatisfied” and ten represents “very satisfied”.

Males and females aged 12 to 17 were the most likely to report being satisfied or very satisfied with life (97.8% of males and 97.6% of females).Note 2 Although more than 9 out of 10 people report a high level of satisfaction, this proportion decreases with age. For males, life satisfaction decreased between each age group from age 12 to 64 and for females, satisfaction decreased across all age groups (Chart 1).

Chart 1

Data table for Chart 1
Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1. The information is grouped by Age group (years) (appearing as row headers), Percent and Confidence Interval, calculated using Lower 95% and Upper 95% units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age group (years) Percent Confidence Interval
Lower 95% Upper 95%
Males  
Total (12 or older) 93.4 92.9 93.9
12 to 17 97.8 96.9 98.8
18 to 34 96.1 95.3 96.9
35 to 49 93.9 92.8 94.9
50 to 64 90.9 89.7 92.1
65 or older 89.7 88.5 91.0
Females  
Total (12 or older) 93.0 92.5 93.5
12 to 17 97.6 96.5 98.6
18 to 34 95.6 94.7 96.5
35 to 49 93.0 91.9 94.1
50 to 64 91.2 90.2 92.3
65 or older 89.7 88.6 90.8

The proportion of residents who reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their life was lower than the national average (93.2%) in:

  • Newfoundland and Labrador (90.8%)
  • New Brunswick (90.0%)

The proportion of residents who reported being satisfied or very satisfied was the same as the national average in the other provinces.

Since older respondents tend to have lower levels of life satisfaction, provinces and territories with disproportionately 'older' populations are expected to have reported lower life satisfaction than the national average. 

Overall, life satisfaction is high for Canadians although differences occur when breaking it down by main activity. Canadians who are attached to the labour market whether working at a paid job or business, or on maternity/paternity leave were among the most likely to report being satisfied or very satisfied with life. A higher rate was also seen among those on vacation from work or going to school. Canadians engaged in other activities whether retired, caring for children or doing housework were less likely to report being satisfied or very satisfied. The lowest rates of life satisfaction were seen among those who were suffering from a long term illness or providing care for someone other than children (Chart 2).

Chart 2

Data table for Chart 2
Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2. The information is grouped by Main Activity (appearing as row headers), Percent and Confidence Interval, calculated using Lower 95% and Upper 95% units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Main Activity Percent Confidence Interval
Lower 95% Upper 95%
Long term illness 59.1 54.3 63.8
Care-giving other than for children 68.4 53.1 83.7
Other 81.9 78.7 85.0
Looking for paid work 86.4 83.4 89.3
Household work 87.9 85.1 90.6
Retired 90.0 89.2 90.8
Caring for children 93.3 91.6 95.1
Volunteering 95.2 92.1 98.4
Working at a paid job or business 95.7 95.2 96.1
Maternity/Paternity leave 96.5 93.0 100.1
Going to school 97.5 96.9 98.1
Vacation (from paid work) 97.7 96.2 99.2

References

Lu C., G. Schellenberg, F. Hou, and J.F. Helliwell. 2015. “How’s Life in the City? Life Satisfaction Across Census Metropolitan Areas and Economic Regions in Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 11-626-X, no. 48. (Accessed January 17th, 2017)

Data

Additional data from the Canadian Community Health Survey are available from CANSIM table 105–0508.

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