Selected indicators of quality of life in Canada

Definitions

Life satisfaction: Respondents were asked, “Using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means ‘Very dissatisfied’ and 10 means ‘Very satisfied,’ how do you feel about your life as a whole right now?”

Sense of meaning and purpose: Respondents were asked, “Using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means ‘Not at all’ and 10 means ‘Completely,’ to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?”

Future outlook: Respondents were asked, “Thinking about your life in general, how often would you say you have a hopeful view of the future?”, where possible response categories included “Always,” “Often,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely” and “Never.”

Loneliness: Respondents were asked, “How often do you feel lonely?”, where possible response categories included “Always,” “Often,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely” and “Never.”

Someone to count on: Respondents were asked, “How often would you say you have people you can depend on to help you when you really need it?”, where possible response categories included “Always,” “Often,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely” and “Never.”

Sense of belonging to local community: Respondents were asked, “How would you describe your sense of belonging to your local community?” where possible response categories included “Very strong,” “Somewhat strong,” “Somewhat weak,” “Very weak” and “No opinion.”

Perceived mental health: Respondents were asked, “In general, how is your mental health?”, where possible response categories included “Excellent,” “Very good,” “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor.”

Perceived health: Respondents were asked, “In general, how is your health?”, where possible response categories included “Excellent,” “Very good,” “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor.”

Variables:

Gender: Refers to an individual’s personal and social identity as a man, woman or non-binary person (a person who is not exclusively a man or a woman). A person’s gender may differ from their sex at birth and from what is indicated on their current identification or legal documents, such as their birth certificate, passport or driver’s licence. A person’s gender may change over time. Some people may not identify with a specific gender.

Non-immigrant: Refers to a person who was born in Canada or who is a Canadian citizen by birth.

Immigrant: Refers to a person who is, or who has ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident. Such a person has been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Immigrants who have obtained Canadian citizenship by naturalization are included in this group.

Non-permanent resident: Refers to a person from another country with a usual place of residence in Canada and who has a work or study permit or who has claimed refugee status (asylum claimant). Family members living with work or study permit holders are also included, unless these family members are already Canadian citizens, landed immigrants or permanent residents.

Visible minority: The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.” In analytical and communications products, the term “visible minority” has been replaced by the terms “racialized population” or “racialized groups”, reflecting the increased use of these terms in the public sphere.

South Asian: Includes “East Indian,” “Pakistani,” and “Sri Lankan.”

Southeast Asian: Includes “Vietnamese,” “Cambodian,” “Laotian,” and “Thai.”

West Asian: Includes “Afghan” and “Iranian.”

Visible minority, not included elsewhere: Includes persons who provided a write-in response such as “Guyanese,” “West Indian,” “Tibetan,” “Polynesian,” and “Pacific Islander.”

Multiple visible minorities: Includes persons who indicated more than one visible minority (for example, “Black” and “South Asian”).

Not a visible minority: Includes Indigenous persons as well as persons who were not considered to be members of a visible minority group.

Single Indigenous identity: Includes persons who identify with only one Indigenous group, that is, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit). The CSS data do not include people living on reserves or in the territories.

Multiple Indigenous identities: Includes persons who identify with two or all three of these Indigenous groups. The CSS data do not include people living on reserves or in the territories.

Persons with a disability, difficulty or long-term condition: Includes persons who identified as a person with a disability and/or reported at least one long-term difficulty or condition. Individuals could have indicated more than one type of disability, difficulty or long-term condition.

In the CSS, to identify persons with and without a disability, difficulty or long-term condition, respondents were first asked about any long-term health conditions or difficulties they had related to seeing, hearing, walking, using stairs, using their hands or fingers or doing other physical activities, learning, remembering or concentrating, and about any emotional, psychological or mental health condition, or any other health problem or long-term condition. Only conditions that have lasted or are expected to last six months or longer were included. Participants were then asked if they identified as a person with a disability. This differs from the method used by Statistics Canada in the Canadian Survey on Disability, which includes disability screening questions to identify persons with a disability and calculate the official rates of disability in Canada.

LGBTQ2+ people: Includes people who reported their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, or a sexual orientation not elsewhere classified. It also includes persons whose reported sex assigned at birth does not correspond to their gender, including those whose gender is not exclusively man or woman (regardless of sexual orientation).

Non-LGBTQ2+ people: Includes people who reported their sexual orientation as heterosexual and whose reported sex assigned at birth is the same as their gender.

Other activity: Includes persons who reported their main activity during the last week as one of the following: “Vacation from paid work,” “Looking for paid work,” “Going to school, including vacation from school,” “Caring for children,” “Household work,” “Maternity/paternity or parental leave,” “Long-term illness,” “Volunteering,” “Caregiving other than for children” or “Other.”

Urban and rural areas: “Urban areas” are defined as all areas that are inside of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs). “Rural areas” are defined as all areas that are outside of CMAs and CAs. The CMA and CA definitions are based on Statistics Canada’s 2016 Standard Geographical Classification (SGC).

Household income: Median after-tax income among economic families and persons not in an economic family, unadjusted.

Economic family: Refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship. This concept differs from the census family concept used in the Annual Income Estimates for Census Families and Individuals.

After-tax income: The total of market income and government transfers, less income tax.

Market income: Consists of employment income and private pensions, as well as income from investments and other market sources.

Indigenous people: Refers to persons aged 16 years and over who self-identified as First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit).

Racialized group: Derived directly from the concept of visible minority. A visible minority refers to whether a person is a visible minority or not, as defined by the Employment Equity Act. This act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Indigenous peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour." The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Arab, Latin American, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese. Measurement for population groups designated as visible minorities started in 2020.

Persons with a disability: Refers to persons aged 16 years and over who met the disability screening questions criteria.

This release analyzes income on the basis of medians. The median is the level of income at which half the population had higher income and half had lower income. Income estimates are expressed in 2021 constant dollars to factor in inflation and enable comparisons across time in real terms.

Housing needs: Proportion of the population living in acceptable housing.

Acceptable housing: Refers to whether a household meets each of the three indicator thresholds established by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for housing adequacy, suitability and affordability.

Housing indicator thresholds are defined as follows:

Poverty: Poverty rate according to the Market Basket Measure.

Low-income measure: Defines an individual as having low income if their household's adjusted after-tax income falls below 50% of the median adjusted after-tax income.

Market basket measure: Based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the costs of food, clothing, footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses for a reference family. These costs are compared with the disposable income of families to determine whether they fall below the poverty line. For more information please see, Report on the second comprehensive review of the Market Basket Measure.