Evolving our approach to measuring quality of life in Canada
In 2021, the Government of Canada introduced the Quality of Life Framework, a tool for assessing and understanding the well-being of people living in Canada across multiple domains. This initiative marked a significant step in understanding and improving the factors that contribute to quality of life nationwide.
To make this wealth of information accessible to all Canadians, the Quality of Life Hub was launched by Statistics Canada in 2022. This online portal consolidates key economic, social and environmental insights into a centralized, user-friendly location. The hub is continually updated, with recent additions, including new visual products and datasets, which provide users with an interactive and detailed view of quality of life indicators over time.
The most recent data from the Canadian Social Survey, which can be found in the Quality of Life Hub, highlight the following trends:
- Two-thirds (68.3%) of the Canadian population aged 75 years and older reported a high sense of meaning and purpose in the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2024, compared with close to half (48.4%) of respondents aged 15 to 24.
- In the fourth quarter, the percentage of immigrants who reported having an always or often hopeful view of the future (56.7%) was similar to that of non-immigrants (56.0%). However, a smaller share of immigrants reported a high life satisfaction score (37.9%) relative to their non-immigrant counterparts (49.6%).
- A higher percentage of women reported a high sense of meaning and purpose (58.8%) compared with men (54.9%) in the fourth quarter. Likewise, a higher percentage of women reported a high life satisfaction score (47.5%) compared with men (44.6%).