Albertans are ‘very dissatisfied’ with their lives, people in Quebec highly satisfied: survey

Edmonton's skyline is visible in the background as a pedestrian walks through an undeveloped section of Blatchford, Tuesday March 10, 2026. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

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A Statistics Canada survey on quality of life in Canada has revealed which provinces have the highest life satisfaction — and which ranks the lowest.

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Overall, the data showed that 46.1 per cent of Canadians reported a high level of life satisfaction in the second quarter of 2025, up from 40.4 per cent in the same period in 2024. However, that figure slipped from the first quarter of 2025, when 48.6 per cent of Canadians reported high life satisfaction.

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The quarterly survey, which polls Canadians over the age of 15, asked respondents: “Using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means ‘Very dissatisfied’ and 10 means ‘Very satisfied’, how do you feel about your life as a whole right now?”

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Those who responded with 8, 9 or 10 were considered to have high life satisfaction.

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The data also broke down life satisfaction by province. At the top of the table, 57.3 per cent of Quebec residents reported high life satisfaction. This was followed by New Brunswick at 53.4 per cent, Newfoundland and Labrador at 51.3 per cent, and Nova Scotia at 49.1 per cent.

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At the other end of the ranking is Alberta, where just 38.1 per cent of respondents rated their life satisfaction highly. Ontario came in at 42 per cent, Saskatchewan at 43.8 per cent, British Columbia at 44.8 per cent, and Manitoba at 45.6 per cent.

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StatCan did not examine the reasons behind the provincial differences, but the findings arrived amid growing signs of frustration in Alberta.

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Last month, a Pollara Strategic Insights poll found that support for Alberta separatism is at its highest level in at least five years. Leaders of the separatist movement delivered a petition for an independence referendum last week, which they say has more than 300,000 signatures.

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If verified by Elections Alberta, the petition would easily surpass the formal threshold of 177,732 signatures required for a referendum, although the verification process is on hold pending a judge’s ruling on a legal challenge.

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That said, current polls put support for separation between 20 and 30 per cent, meaning the majority of Albertans still favour remaining in Canada.

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A banner in Edmonton supporting Alberta separatism. Photo by David Bloom

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The StatCan survey also highlighted differences in life satisfaction across other demographics in Canada.

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Canadians between the ages of 25 and 54 reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction, with only 37.8 per cent giving a high score. In contrast, Canadians aged 65 and older reported the highest satisfaction levels, with 60.5 per cent saying they were highly satisfied with life.

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Similarly, 61.1 per cent of retired respondents reported high life satisfaction, compared with 42.7 per cent of those working at a paid job or business.

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Rural areas reported higher levels of life satisfaction than urban areas (55 per cent vs 44.8 per cent), while life satisfaction between genders was more evenly split, with 45.6 per cent of men reporting high levels of life satisfaction compared to 46.5 per cent of women.