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March 30, 2022LIFE SATISFACTION, Q4 2021 Statistics Canada has released new data about how Canadians perceive their quality of life. This information is collected as part of the Canadian Social Survey, conducted from October 26 to December 7, 2021. This survey reports on Canadians' overall satisfaction with life, sense of meaning and purpose, loneliness, having someone on whom to depend when needed and hope for the future. National data does not include any results from the Territories.
Life satisfaction
Respondents were asked "How do you feel about your life as a whole right now?, " where 0 meant "Very dissatisfied" and 10 meant "Very satisfied."
In Nova Scotia, 47.3% of respondents rated their life satisfaction in the most satisfied categories (8-10) while 20.9% responded with the least satisfied categories (0-5). Across Canada, 52.1% of the respondents were in the most satisfied categories while 19.2% were in the least satisfied categories. Satisfaction was greatest in Quebec and least in Alberta. British Columbia had a similar share of respondents in the least satisfied categories as Alberta.
Life satisfaction varied between men and women across the country. Women in Alberta reported the least life satisfaction while women in Quebec reported the highest life satisfaction. Men in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador reported the highest life satisfaction. Although there were only small differences in dissatisfaction among men and women in Nova Scotia, there was a notably smaller portion of men than women who responded in the most satisfied categories.
On the scale of 0-10, the average response to life satisfaction for Nova Scotia was 7.0 - tied with Alberta and British Columbia for the lowest among provinces. Average life satisfaction was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador as well as in Quebec. Across Canada, women and men reported the same average life satisfaction while in Nova Scotia average life satisfaction among men was lower.
Sense of Meaning and Purpose
Respondents were asked whether the things to do in life felt worthwhile, ranked on a scale of 0 to 10 where '0' indicated 'not at all worthwhile' and '10' indicated 'completely worthwhile'.
In Nova Scotia, 56.3% of respondents replied in the three strongest categories (8-10) for sense of meaning and purpose. This was below the national average of 59.1%; the highest share of respondents in these categories were in Quebec while the lowest were in British Columbia.
18.3% of Nova Scotians responded that their sense of meaning and purpose in the things they do in life were in the lowest categories (0-5), above the national average of 17.1%. Alberta reported the greatest portion of the population that responded in these lowest categories.
High sense of meaning and purpose was most common among women in Newfoundland and Labrador and lowest among men in Manitoba. Low sense of meaning and purpose was more prevalent among women in Alberta and men in Manitoba.
Across the country, women generally reported a higher average response than men when asked whether the things they did in life were worthwhile. Quebec and Alberta were the exceptions.
Loneliness
Survey respondents were asked about the frequency of feelings of loneliness.
In Nova Scotia, 50.8% of the population reported rarely or never feeling lonely. A further 31.1% reported feeling lonely sometimes while 18.1% reported feeling lonely often or always. Nationally, 52.9% of the population are rarely or never lonely, 33.3% are lonely sometimes and 13.8% are often or always lonely. The share of the population that are rarely or never lonely was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador and lowest in Alberta. The share of the population reporting frequent loneliness was highest in Nova Scotia and lowest in Saskatchewan.
More men than women reported feeling lonely rarely or never. More women than men reported loneliness often or always. This was the case in every province, though the gap between men's and women's prevalence of frequent loneliness was small in Ontario.
Someone to Depend on When Needed
Respondents were asked whether they felt they had someone on whom to depend when needed.
In Nova Scotia, 72.2% of the population felt they always or often had someone on whom to depend when needed. Across Canada, 73.4% of respondents felt they always or often had someone upon whom to rely (highest: Saskatchewan; lowest: Alberta and Ontario).
8.3% of Nova Scotians felt they rarely or never had someone upon whom to rely, just below the national average of 8.5% (highest: Ontario and New Brunswick; lowest: Newfoundland and Labrador).
Across Canada, women in Prince Edward Island reported the highest portion who always or often had someone upon whom to depend. Men in Nova Scotia and British Columbia were most likely to report rarely or never having someone upon whom to rely.
Hopeful Outlook for the Future
Respondents were asked how often they felt hopeful about the future.
Only 59.1% of Nova Scotians reported feeling hopeful about the furture always or often. This was the lowest among provinces (highest: Quebec). Similarly, 14.2% of Nova Scotians reported rarely or never feeling hopeful about the future - the highest portion among provinces (lowest: Saskatchewan and Quebec).
Low frequency of hopeful outlook was similarly prevalent among both men and women in Nova Scotia.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0843-01 Life satisfaction by gender and province; Table 13-10-0845-01 Sense of meaning and purpose by gender and province; Table 13-10-0847-01 Future outlook by gender and province; Table 45-10-0048-01 Loneliness by gender and province; Table 45-10-0050-01 Having someone to count on by gender and province
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