Life in Canada

Canada performs very well in many measures of well-being relative to most other countries in the Better Life Index. Canada ranks above the average in housing, subjective well-being, personal security, health status, income and wealth, social connections, environmental quality, jobs and earnings, education and skills, work-life balance, and civic engagement. Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In Canada, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 30 474 a year which is more than the OECD average of USD 29 016 a year.

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Good education and skills are important requisites for finding a job. In Canada, 90% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, well above the OECD average of 76%. Canada is a top-performing country in terms of the quality of its educational system. The average student scored 522 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is higher than the OECD average of 497, making Canada one of the strongest OECD countries in student's skills. In terms of health, life expectancy at birth in Canada is 82 years, two years higher than the OECD average of 80 years. Life expectancy for women is 84 years, compared with 79 for men. Canada also does very well in terms environment and quality of water.

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Concerning the public sphere, there is a strong sense of community, where 94% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, higher than the OECD average of 88%. Voter turnout, a measure of citizens' participation in the political process, was 68% during recent elections, in line with the OECD average. In general, Canadians are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average. When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Canadians gave it a 7.4 grade, higher than the OECD average of 6.