Date of publication: June 11, 2022 • 23 hours ago • 2 minutes reading • 216 comments St. John’s Harbor in the New Earth. A report by Statistics Canada found more people in Newfoundland and Labrador who said they felt their actions had meaning and purpose (66.1 percent) than any other province. Photo by Getty Images / iStockphoto
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There are more people in Newfoundland and Labrador who are more satisfied with their lives than anywhere else in Canada, while British Colombians are less likely to be so up, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
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The report, released on Thursday, found that 61.7 percent of people in Newfoundland and Labrador considered themselves very satisfied with their lives, while 46.5 percent who considered their lives very satisfactory lived in British Columbia. But do not pack your bags for the East Coast yet. “It is not the geographical coordinates that matter, but what exists,” said Dr. John Heligwell, a happiness researcher at the University of British Columbia. Helliwell says the number one predictor of happiness is social connection and the feeling that other people “have your back”. He describes it as “this sense in which when you go out in public, they are all people who would help you when you fall and stumble”. Canada Statistics map showing life satisfaction levels across Canada. For an interactive version, click here Recent data from Statistics Canada identifies six factors that contribute to a person’s quality of life, half of which are directly related to social connection: life satisfaction, sense of purpose, future perspective, loneliness, having someone to rely on and belong to the locals. community.
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More people in Newfoundland said they felt their actions had meaning and purpose (66.1 percent) than any other province. Slightly less than 55 percent in BC. they felt that their actions made sense. Ontario was named the loneliest province, with 15 percent saying they always or often feel alone, while 59 percent in New Earth said they rarely or never feel alone. Price Edward Island and Saskatchewan had the highest percentage of people who said they felt a strong sense of belonging to the local community, both at 54%. Across Canada, more people living in rural areas rated their sense of purpose (65%) and life satisfaction (57.6%) as high compared to people living in cities (57.5%). one hundred and 50.6 percent, respectively). People in rural areas also felt less alone and generally felt a very strong sense of belonging to their local community.
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This is supported by research on happiness. One study found that even among the happiest people living in urban centers, there were lower rates of connection and a sense of belonging to those in the less fortunate rural communities. The sense of connection that can be found in smaller communities, says Helliwell, comes naturally. This is partly due to repetition – seeing and starting to trust the same people regularly. He says that trust and familiarity in rural communities means that people “work together to help build better lives” and says, “this automatically happens in smaller communities. We need more work in urban environments. “ Helliwell says the answer to achieving happiness and satisfaction in rural or less populated areas like Newfoundland is not to flee to rural communities. “We need to make cities more like rural areas. “This means that we invest a lot more time and goodwill in what is happening in our neighborhoods.”
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