Canada’s sharp policy turns have dramatically impacted the quality of life. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data reveals that most people are highly satisfied with life and that share was rising in Q4 2024… but only for seniors 65 and older. The general sentiment in the country continued to erode, especially amongst the critical demographics of Core Aged workers and recent immigrants. A brief period of predatory policies appears to be setting up long-term destabilization for the country’s economic future.
Canadians Highly Satisfied With Life Continued A Downtrend
The share of residents who scored “highly satisfied” with their quality of life in Canada.
Source: Stat Can; Better Dwelling.
Only a minority of Canadians are now highly satisfied with their life in the country. The share of people who scored 8 or higher on the agency’s survey fell to 46% of people, down 1.6 percentage points (ppts) year-over-year. It has been trending lower, with this being the worst Q4 since the pandemic.
It’s still higher than the lowest quarter, which was Q2 2024. However, the data appears to have a seasonal relationship with Q2 being consistently lower. Shoveling snow in Q1 makes people a little cranky at the start of Q2, right?
Canada Is Great If You’re Old & Um… Less Great For Workers
The share of residents who scored “highly satisfied” with their quality of life in Canada. Grouped by age.
Source: Stat Can; Better Dwelling.
Core aged workers are between 25 and 54 years old, and the most crucial economic demographic. They’re at their peak regarding their health, family life, career, and economic stability. Fail to keep this demographic happy and it causes a cascading set of issues, such as declining family formation, investment in their communities, and even the ability to attract immigration. Keep this demographic optimistic and it keeps the economy booming. Unfortunately for Canada, this data isn’t moving in the right direction.
The share of Core Aged workers highly satisfied fell (39%; -1.2 ppts y/y), with Q2 2024 being the only weaker quarter. Breaking it down shows the sharpest decline for those between 45 and 54 years old (41.3%; -2.7 ppts), bringing them closer to those 33 to 44 years old (40.5%; -0.9 ppts), before plunging for young adults 25 to 34 years old (35.7%; -1 ppt). Considering the latter of the bunch has the least attachments (early career, early in their family forming years)—that can be a big warning of potential brain drain on the horizon.
Canada’s Boomers are unlikely to share the pain that many in the country are feeling. Most (60.5%) people aged 65 or older were highly satisfied. Their sentiment improved 0.4 ppts y/y and a mind-blowing 10.7 points since 2021. Those 55 to 64 years old were just shy of a majority (49%; -4.5 ppts y/y), but sentiment is still eroding. Only a single demographic showing improvement is certainly a sign of where policy is focused.
Canadian Quality of Life Only Highly Satisfying To 1 In 3 Recent Immigrants
The share of immigrants who arrived within the past 10 years who scored “highly satisfied” with their quality of life.
Source: Stat Can; Better Dwelling.
Canada’s immigration policy experiment over the past few years may take a long time to repair. When divided by immigration status, the share of highly satisfied non-immigrants slipped to just under half (49.6%) of the group. In contrast, just 37.8% (-3.2 ppts) of immigrants felt the same—though the breakdown of immigrants by arrival time is another key in understanding this data.
Immigrants who arrived less than 10 years ago were much less likely to be satisfied (32.9%; -4.8% ppts). This indicates that those who arrived 10+ years ago are closer to non-immigrants when it comes to the share of people highly satisfied with life in Canada. The sharp drop over the past year indicates things are getting harder for those who recently arrived, not improving.
There’s a common theme here, and it concerns the increasing difficulty of establishing oneself in Canada. Policymakers openly stated that their goal was to reinforce home prices at a much higher level, effectively taxing younger generations for the financial prosperity of prior generations. The same policymakers also sold immigrants on the country’s historical path to prosperity while openly defending its strip-mall study visa scheme as “lucrative,” and necessary for “big box store labour.”