Quality of life in Canada

Additional information

Life satisfaction, sense of meaning and purpose and future outlook are indicators in the Quality of Life Framework for Canada.

Data sources

The data used in this dashboard are from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS). The Canadian Social Survey is a voluntary, cross-sectional, quarterly survey that collects information on a variety of social topics such as health, well-being, quality of life, confidence in institutions, activities, time-use, and emergency preparedness. The target population for this voluntary survey is all non-institutionalized persons 15 years of age and older, living off reserve in Canada’s 10 provinces.

Sociodemographic characteristics

Gender

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 license. A person’s gender may change over time. Some people may not identify with a specific gender. Given that the non-binary population is small, it is necessary to aggregate the data to protect the confidentiality of responses provided by the Canadian population. Most information from the Canadian Social Survey is disseminated using a two-category gender variable. In these cases, people in the “non-binary person” category are distributed into the other two gender categories.

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.

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‑immigrant

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

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.

Indigenous identity

Refers to persons who self-identified as First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit). The data do not include people living on reserves or in the territories.

Single Indigenous identity

Includes persons who identify with one Indigenous group, including, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit). The Canadian Social Survey data do not include people living on reserves or in the territories.

Multiple Indigenous identities

Includes persons who identify with two or three Indigenous groups (i.e., First Nations people, Métis, and/or Inuit). The data do not include people living on reserves or in the territories.

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).

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.”

Multiple visible minorities

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

Visible minority, not included elsewhere

Includes persons who provided a write-in response such as “Guyanese,” “West Indian,” “Tibetan,” “Polynesian,” and “Pacific Islander.”

Not a visible minority

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