Canadians’ expectations of their lives aren’t measuring up to reality — a sentiment that’s been growing stronger over the past decade and especially among those under 30, according to a recent report from happiness researchers at U of T.
“There has been a shift in what it means to be a young person in Canada,” says Felix Cheung, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Population Well-Being. “They may have bigger and bigger dreams for themselves, but due to changing economic and social conditions, the quality of their lives is staying about the same.”
Co-authored by Cheung, Department of Economics PhD student Anthony McCanny and Department of Psychology postdoctoral fellow Phyllis Lun, the 2024 Canadian Happiness Report is a deeper dive into the findings from the World Happiness Report, a national happiness ranking in partnership with the UN and the Oxford Research Institute released each year.
The researchers analyzed Gallup World Poll and Statistics Canada data, including the Canadian Community Health Survey and the Canadian Social Survey, to get a clearer picture of well-being trends in Canada over time.
Youth mental health is declining
In 2012, self-reported mental health in 15- to 30-year-olds was the best in the country of any other age group — now it's the worst.
“There has been a cultural change in how we talk about mental health, so we could be seeing that increased awareness come through in how people feel about their own mental health and how satisfied they are with their lives,” says McCanny.
Quebec and New Brunswick are home to the happiest people — Ontario and B.C., the unhappiest
Young people in Quebec, particularly Francophones, are experiencing only a slight decline in mental health and quality of life relative to the rest of Canada.
“This could point to a cultural difference in how connected French speakers in Quebec feel to their community, since English speakers are experiencing that same stark decline in well-being that is happening elsewhere in Canada, and in other English-speaking and highly developed countries,” says Cheung.
New Brunswick youth are happier as well, though Ontario and B.C. youth — not so much. The researchers say that tracks with the fact that urban well-being is lower than rural well-being, perhaps due to affordability issues and weaker community ties.
New immigrants are satisfied with their lives
The researchers were surprised to find that newcomers who immigrated to Canada within the last decade scored high for well-being. Over time, this level of satisfaction evens out with the rest of Canada’s population on average. “It seems that newcomers’ expectations adapt to other Canadians’ expectations of what life should be, while they continue to face economic and social challenges,” says McCanny.
While new immigrants are faring better than expected, the 2SLGBTQ+ community, low-income Canadians and those with poor mental health have the biggest disparity in well-being compared to the rest of the population.
“In particular, there's a massive divide between people who self-evaluate as having poor mental health and other groups, which, while intuitive, points to the severity of today’s mental health crisis,” says McCanny.
A guide for policymakers
Cheung hopes the Canadian Happiness Report serves as a roadmap for what institutions, governments and individuals can do to improve well-being in Canada and in their own lives.
“Government offerings like the GST tax break could provide temporary financial relief for some, but initiatives like the $500-million Youth Mental Health fund that launched last week will create more of an impact,” says Cheung.
“From a policy perspective, we need to continue to build more community-based well-being services to make a long-term difference in the quality of life for Canadians.”