Key messages: National Index report

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Mixed results for Healthy Populations

• Healthy Populations results are up by 16.2% overall; but this masks contradictions.

• People are living longer, but are not rating their overall health as positively as before
• Diabetes is skyrocketing, increasing by two and a half times; it now affects 7% of Canadians
• More than 1 in 5 people have a health or activity limitation.
• Only 1 in 3 Canadians are getting their flu shot

• Low income is a health issue
  • People with higher incomes and education live longer, are less likely to have diabetes and other health or activity-related limitations, and report better levels of health overall.

• The big win in this category is the steep decline in teen smoking – especially among girls.

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Community Vitality shows Canadians pulling together but volunteering less

• Overall, Community Vitality is a good news story. This domain is up almost 15%.
  •  2 out of 3 people have a strong sense of belonging to their community

• We feel – and we are – safer than ever.
  • The Crime Severity Index is down almost 80% since 1998
  • 4 in 5 Canadians feel safe walking alone after dark in their communities
• People are helping one another to a greater extent and are experiencing less discrimination.

• Canadians came together in a significant way during and after the recession.
  • In 2007-2008 people were providing the highest level of unpaid help to others.
  • The number of people with 5 or more friends and trust levels have been rising steadily from the lowest points pre-recession.
• But formal volunteering dropped 15% post-recession. Reaching a high of 65% in 2008, formal volunteering lost all its pre-recession gains. By 2014 it was almost exactly at 1994 levels.

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Democratic Engagement presents a paradox

• There are real challenges in the areas of trust, confidence and participation in our institutions.
• Democratic Engagement was up 15% from 1994 to 2008 but took a 2% hit since the recession.
• There is a participation-satisfaction paradox.
  • Voter turnout is stuck at 66-67%.
  • Fewer than 2% of Canadians volunteer for political or advocacy organisations.
  • Barely 1 in 3 Canadians expressed confidence in federal Parliament (down 14% from 1994). YET
  • Satisfaction with how democracy works in Canada is up 6%

• Women are still under-represented in federal Parliament
  • The % of women is only up 5% in 21 years and still well below equality (25%)
  • At this rate it will take 80 years to achieve gender parity in the House of Commons

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Living Standards: not recovered from the recession’s painful blow

• Living Standards were on a good trajectory, increasing 23% until the recession in 2008.
• After 2008, Living Standards dropped almost 11%. The domain is up almost 12% overall, but with a lot of pain, uncertainty and inequality along the way.
• Our assumption that Living Standards are tied to economic growth is totally shattered.
• Income inequality is growing.
• The people most affected are women and seniors.
• Living Standards are an important determinant to education, health, community- and democratic participation

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Time Use: We are badly out of balance

• Canadians – especially women- struggle with “time crunch” despite a 3.0% gain in Time Use.

• The recession didn’t change how many hours there are in a day; but it did change how we use that time.
• Positively: Fewer people work more than 50 hours each week and flexible work hours are more widely available. BUT
• Work is more precarious – especially for low income workers.
  • More people are working less than 30 hours/week not by choice – an indication of more part-time and precarious work.
  • 1 in 3 workers do not have regular, week day work hours, up from 1 in 4 in 1994.

• The time crunch reaches us even in our most personal time.
  • We are spending 30% less time daily with friends – hitting a record low in 2014.
  • Only 1 in 3 Canadians are getting enough sleep
  • 1 in 5 people report high levels of time pressure
  • … and we have seen a reduction in volunteering and attending arts, culture and recreation.

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Environmental progress is flat-lining

• We’ve had 21 years to take on the most urgent issue on the planet. Our progress? We declined 2.9%.
• Our environmental footprint - the 4^th largest in the world – remains massive and unchanged.
• Greenhouse Gas emissions are up and we are nowhere near emissions targets.
• Smog levels, air quality and freshwater yields are essentially the same.

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We have sacrificed our Leisure and Culture Time

• Canadians were hardest hit in Leisure and Culture. The domain declined 9.3%.
• Six of the 8 indicators in this category are worse than they were in 1994.
  • We are spending less time in arts, culture and social leisure
  • Time spent volunteering in culture and recreation is down almost 30%
  • The recession stole our vacation time – we’re spending 30% fewer nights away on vacation
  • In 1994, the percentage of household spending on culture and recreation in 2014 was at its lowest point in the 21-year history – down 15%.

• The good news is:
  • We are more active especially among youth and, increasingly among seniors
  • Canadians are returning to the arts and to national parks and historic sites

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Other themes

Women's wellbeing benefits us all

In several ways, women’s wellbeing improved between 1994 and 2014.

• Women can expect to live 4 years longer than men
• More women than men have university degrees (31.7% and 27.3%, respectively)
• Slightly more women than men report better overall health
• More women get their flu shot

However,

• Women don’t feel as safe as men
  • In 2014, over 90% of Canadian men said they felt safe walking alone after dark but only about two-thirds of women (67.8%) felt safe
• Women are at greater risk of poverty - especially single mothers and older women
• Women are more likely to be underemployed. More women are working part-time because secure, full-time employment is less available to them.
• Women and single parents of young children feel the greatest time pressure
• Women are still significantly under-represented in the House of Commons
  • Over the 21-year study, the number of women in Federal Parliament was up 4.5% to 20.3% in 2014 and 26% in the 2016 election but nowhere near parity
  • At this rate, it will take another 80 years to get to 50% representation
• Spend less time with friends
• Felt the biggest drop in social leisure activities
  • Women spend on average a much greater percentage of their time than men on both social leisure and arts and culture activities, but the drop in social leisure activities from 1998 to 2014 was higher among women; in fact, the decline in social leisure activities by all Canadians was accounted for almost entirely by women.
• Spend less time volunteering in culture and recreation.
  • Although the amount of time for both men and women has dropped over time, in 2013, men reported on average twice as much time volunteering for culture and recreation organisations than women.
  • This may be because sport volunteering has a greater rate of participation than the arts and culture where women volunteer more.
• Exercise less regularly than men
  • While the trends in frequency of physical activity is rising for both genders, men reported almost two more episodes of physical activity per month than women

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Addressing low incomes is key/ Low income is a health issue

If you are born into a low income household in Canada today, then statistically-and practically-your wellbeing will be far worse than someone in a higher income home.

Arguably, over the past 21 years, the poorest Canadians are much worse off as the income gap widens and they fall further behind.

• High tuition fees are a deterrent for students from low-income families to pursue post-secondary education. Since education is key to overall health and later life success, better access for low-income families is critical.
• Physical and mental health outcomes are poorer, which leads to reduced participation in almost all aspects of life
  • Over two-thirds of Canadians (68.7%) with household incomes over $80,000/yr report very good or excellent health. Well under half of Canadians (43.9%) in households with annual incomes under $40,000 report feeling as healthy
  • Health and activity limitations are more prevalent
  • 10.4% - one in 10 people – who live in low income households have diabetes
  • Access to doctors can be an issue – especially in Canada’s North
• The things that keep you healthy – like good food and shelter – are harder to access
  • Access to affordable, quality food is difficult for over 2 million Canadians
  • Shelter costs – the gap between what we require and what we are able to afford – are increasingly out of reach
• Employment – the very thing that can get you out of low income – is even more precarious
  • Working Canadians in households with the lowest annual incomes are much less likely to have regular weekday work hours (60.4% as opposed to 66.5% average)
• There is less, if any, discretionary income to participate in organized activities, culture and recreation
• Reducing income inequality means Canada can better use the skills and capabilities of its citizens to their fullest potential and that people can enjoy healthier, fuller lives
• This great inequality flies in the face of Canadian values where fairness and equity are cornerstones
• Because the domains are inter-related, alleviating income inequality also yields improvements across all the domains

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