A new report from Statistics Canada highlights startling findings about the decline in life satisfaction in the country.
StatCan compiled its results using data from the Canadian Social Survey and found that overall satisfaction has been declining over the past three years.
In 2021, over half (54%) of Canadians 15 and older said they felt “highly satisfied” with their lives. However, that number dropped to 48.6% in 2024.
And it gets even bleaker.
StatCan also reported that Canadians are feeling less hopeful about the future, as that declined from 65% to 59.7% from 2021 to 2024.
Money woes tied to drop in life satisfaction
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So why are Canadians reporting a drop in their overall life satisfaction?
Statistics Canada said that while it’s difficult to pinpoint exact causes, the overall financial health of Canadians could be a factor in how “subjective well-being” has been impacted.
Three years ago, 18.6% of Canadians reported experiencing financial difficulties. That number climbed significantly to 32.8% in 2024.
Over the past three years, life satisfaction among Canadians facing financial difficulties has dropped by 2.1 percentage points per year.
Working-aged adults, racialized Canadians, and people with disabilities were the groups most likely to experience financial hardship during this period.
A 2023 report from the non-profit organization FP Canada highlighted that inflation, higher food and gas prices, soaring rent payments, and a generally higher cost of living left people drained nationwide to the point that half of the country (48%) has lost sleep over finances.
Who is more satisfied with life?
StatCan noted that life satisfaction varies between different demographic groups across the country.
Seniors appear to be the most satisfied group, as over three in five (61.5%) said they were happy with their lives. According to StatCan, elderly Canadians have remained at this level of satisfaction relatively unchanged since 2021.
Conversely, life satisfaction is noticeably declining for younger Canadians (25 to 34). In 2024, under four in 10 (36.9%) individuals in this group said they were “highly satisfied with their lives.”
StatCan notes a rapid decline in their level of satisfaction as this group’s proportions have dropped an average of 3.9 percentage points every year since 2021.
Racialized Canadians were the demographic group that saw a significant decline in life satisfaction. Their satisfaction dropped from 52.7% in 2021 to 40.6% in 2024.
StatCan notes that this drop was over five times higher than the decrease in life satisfaction of non-racialized Canadians, who saw a drop of 0.8 percentage points per year from 2021 to 2024.
Over half (51.5%) of non-racialized Canadians said they were happy with their lives in 2024.
Many losing hope
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Unfortunately, the report doesn’t end on a good note, as it highlights how Canadians of all ages feel less hopeful than they did in 2021.
Middle-aged adults 45 to 54 saw their overall hopefulness decline from 68.3% in the summer of 2021 to 59.7% in early 2024.
Three years ago, 60.7% of younger adults (15 to 24) also reported feeling more hopeful about the future. However, their decline in positive outlook was less than that of their older counterparts, dropping by 1.3 percentage points annually between 2021 and 2024.