Health Fact Sheets
Life satisfaction, 2016
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In 2016, 92.5% of Canadians aged 12 and older, or roughly 27.3 million people, reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with life.Note 1 Overall there was no difference in life satisfaction between the sexes.Note 2 The proportion of males aged 12 and older who reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied decreased slightly from 93.4% in 2015 to 92.6% in 2016. For females, there was no change between 2015 and 2016.
Life satisfaction had slight variations between provinces however the proportion of people who were satisfied or very satisfied remained above 90% for all provinces.
Males and females aged 12 to 17 were the most likely to report being satisfied or very satisfied with life (97.9 % of males and 97.3% of females). Although more than 9 out of 10 people report a high level of satisfaction, this proportion decreases with age. For females, life satisfaction decreased between each age group from age 12 to 64 (Chart 1).
Data table for Chart 1
| Age group (years) | Percent | Confidence Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower 95% limit | Upper 95% limit | ||
| Males | |||
| Total (12 or older) | 92.6 | 92.0 | 93.1 |
| 12 to 17 | 97.9 | 97.0 | 98.8 |
| 18 to 34 | 93.9 | 92.6 | 95.1 |
| 35 to 49 | 92.9 | 91.7 | 94.1 |
| 50 to 64 | 90.8 | 89.7 | 91.9 |
| 65 or older | 90.2 | 89.0 | 91.4 |
| Females | |||
| Total (12 or older) | 92.5 | 92.0 | 93.0 |
| 12 to 17 | 97.3 | 96.1 | 98.4 |
| 18 to 34 | 95.9 | 95.2 | 96.6 |
| 35 to 49 | 92.4 | 91.3 | 93.4 |
| 50 to 64 | 89.7 | 88.5 | 91.0 |
| 65 or older | 89.7 | 88.5 | 90.9 |
|
Note: Population aged 12 and older who reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their life in general. 95% confidence intervals are denoted by vertical lines overlaid on the bars in this chart. They indicate the degree of variability in the estimates. Source: Canadian Community Health Survey, 2016. |
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Research has shown that people who have good mental and physical health are more likely to be satisfied with life.Note 3 Respondents who reported that their health was ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ were most likely to be ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their lives (97.9%).In contrast, respondents who reported that their health was ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ were more likely to be ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with their life (18.7%, Chart 2).
Data table for Chart 2
| Excellent/very good health |
Good health | Fair/poor health |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| percent | |||
| Very satisfied or satisfied with life |
97.9 | 92.0 | 61.8 |
| Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied |
1.6 | 6.0 | 19.5 |
| Very dissatisfied or dissatisfied with life |
0.6 | 2.0 | 18.7 |
|
Note: Perceived health refers to a person’s health in general — not only the absence of disease or injury, but also physical, mental and social well-being. Source: Canadian Community Health Survey, 2016. |
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About Life Satisfaction
Life satisfaction is a personal subjective assessment of global well-being. In the Canadian Community Health Survey, respondents are asked to rate their current life satisfaction on an 11-point scale (0 to 10), where 0 represents “very dissatisfied” and 10 represents “very satisfied”. Satisfied or very satisfied represents those who indicated a value of 6 or more out of 10.
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References
Lu C., G. Schellenberg , F. Hou, and J.F. Helliwell. 2015. How’s Life in the City? Life Satisfaction Across Census Metropolitan Areas and Economic Regions in Canada. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 11-626-X, no. 48. (accessed January 17, 2017)
Data
Additional data from the Canadian Community Health Survey are available from CANSIM table 105–0508.
Notes
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