(Canadian Press)

By David Opinko

Pandemic preying upon perceptions of life satisfaction: Stats Canada

Dec 21, 2020 | 11:09 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – In what must be the most “well, duh” study of all time, the majority of Canadians say that their overall levels of life satisfaction have decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stats Canada polled 4,200 Canadians in June 2020 and compared the responses to a similar survey done in 2018.

Two years ago, respondents gave an average score of 8.09 out of 10 when it comes to their life satisfaction. This year, that fell to 6.71.

“This is the lowest level of life satisfaction observed in Canada over the 2003-to-2020 period for which comparable data are available,” reads a portion of the survey results.

In 2020, just 40 per cent rated their life satisfaction at eight or higher compared to 72 per cent who said the same in 2018.

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Conversely, 40 per cent gave a score of six or less this year while just 12 per cent had that score two years ago.

Canadians aged 15-29 reported more significant declines in life satisfaction than their older peers. In that age group, the number who gave an eight or higher fell from 72 per cent to 26 per cent.

Meanwhile, among those aged 30-59, those with high levels of satisfaction fell by 27 percentage points.

Similar discrepancies were seen among immigrants versus those born in Canada.

There was little difference in life satisfaction between men and women prior to or during the pandemic.

“This was unexpected, given male-female differences in employment, mental health and work-family balance during the pandemic documented in other studies.”

Canadians’ ratings of how they feel about their life as a whole at the moment of responding, response distributions, Canada, 2018 and June 2020. (Supplied by Stats Canada)