Selected indicators of quality of life in Canada

Additional information

This dashboard allows users to examine data for selected indicators of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada.

For information on the survey questions used to measure quality of life indicators, please refer to the “Definitions” section.

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E use with caution
x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act

Definitions

Indicators

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:

Adequate housing is reported by their residents as not requiring any major repairs.

Affordable housing has shelter costs equal to less than 30% of total before-tax household income.

Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of resident households according to the National Occupancy Standard (NOS), conceived by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and provincial and territorial representatives.

After-tax income

The total of market income and government transfers, less income tax.
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 2023 constant dollars to factor in inflation and enable comparisons across time in real terms.

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.”

Household income

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

Housing needs

Proportion of the population living in acceptable housing.

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?”

Loneliness

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

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. Low income was measured using the Low-Income Measure After-Tax (LIM-AT).

Making ends meet

Respondents were asked, “In the past 12 months, how difficult or easy was it for your household to meet its financial needs in terms of transportation, housing, food, clothing, and other necessary expenses? , where possible response categories included “Very difficult,” “Difficult,” “Neither difficult nor easy,” “Easy,” “Very easy.”

Perceived health

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

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.”

Satisfaction with local environment

Respondents were asked, On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you feel "Not at all satisfied" and 10 means you are "Completely satisfied", how satisfied are you with the quality of your local environment such as access to green space, and air or water quality?”

Satisfaction with time use

Respondents were asked, “On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you feel "Not at all satisfied" and 10 means you are "Completely satisfied", how satisfied are you with the amount of time you have to do the things that you like doing?”

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.”

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?”

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.”

Sociodemographic characteristics

2SLGBTQ+ 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).

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.

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.
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.

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.

Indigenous people

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

Multiple Indigenous identities

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

Multiple visible minorities

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

Non-2SLGBTQ+ people

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

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.

Not a visible minority

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

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.”

Persons with disabilities

The Canadian Income Survey (CIS) identifies persons with disabilities using the Disability Screening Questions (DSQ), which are based on the social model of disability, and were asked of one randomly selected household member aged 15 years and older (16 years and older for reference years prior to 2022). The DSQ first measure the degree to which difficulties are experienced across 10 domains of functioning, then ask how often daily activities are limited by these difficulties. Only persons who report a limitation in their day-to-day activities are identified as having a disability. Beginning in 2022, the DSQ module was included in a new Labour Force Survey supplement, the Labour Market and Socioeconomic Indicators, which doubles the sample size for a large subset of the CIS content. Please consult the document Improvements to the Canadian Income Survey Methodology for the 2022 Reference Year (opens new window) for more information.

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.

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.

South Asian

Includes “East Indian,” “Pakistani,” and “Sri Lankan.”

Southeast Asian

Includes “Vietnamese,” “Cambodian,” “Laotian,” and “Thai.”

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.

Visible minority, not included elsewhere

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

West Asian

Includes “Afghan” and “Iranian.”