Happiness, Financial Health and Romantic Life Deteriorated Last 3 Years
Closing out 2025, Canadians are more positive about their health (75%) and happiness (72%) than they are about their social life (68%), their financial situation (59%) and their sex/romantic life (56%). While ratings of one’s social life has improved in 2025 compared to 2022 when these questions were last asked, one’s own happiness (-5 pts), financial situation (-5 pts) and sex/romantic life (-3) have all deteriorated over the last 3 years.
Seven in ten Canadians agree that this year has made them fearful for an upcoming recession (although down 4 points from the end of 2022). Only four in ten agree they were able to save enough money this year (58% disagree with 29% strongly disagree significantly higher than in 2022, +5%), and four in ten (41%) agree that this year has made them fearful for their job security – up significantly from 2022 (+11%). In hindsight, nearly half (47%) of Canadians say that 2025 was better than they thought it would be, compared to the 50% who said the same thing about 2022 at year’s end.
Looking ahead to 2026, six in ten Canadians say they feel optimistic about the next year, while a similar proportion feel optimistic that their financial situation will improve, and just over four in ten feel optimistic that they’ll have better access to public healthcare services.
On the other hand, optimism is far lower for the end of the war in Ukraine, having dropped significantly since 2022 (-10 pts), and pessimism looms over the ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S. as well. Additionally, nearly half of Canadians who don’t already own a home say they are pessimistic (71%) about being able to purchase one in the coming year, most Canadians (78%) are pessimistic that groceries will become more affordable in the coming year.
Tracking available for questions asked in 2022.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between December 8 and 15, 2025, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,502 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Darrell Bricker, PhD
CEO, Ipsos Global Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2001
[email protected]
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