Most (85%) Canadians Believe They Live a Healthy Lifestyle

Toronto, ON - An RBC/Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of RBC Insurance has revealed that most (85%) Canadians believe they live a healthy lifestyle, but that doesn't mean they can't improve. Six in ten (61%) want to exercise more regularly, while others say they are looking to eat more nutritious food (53%), go on a diet or lose weight (34%), or reduce their alcohol consumption (5%). One in five (20%) Canadians admits to smoking on a regular basis, but among those that do, three quarters (72%) suggest that they'd like to stop or reduce the frequency of this habit.

• Quebecers (90%) are most likely to say they live a healthy lifestyle, followed by those living in Alberta (87%), British Columbia (85%), Ontario (84%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (83%) and Atlantic Canada (77%).

Generally speaking, women tend to exhibit healthier lifestyle habits than men in many instances:

• Men (40%) are more likely than women (25%) to say they drink alcohol on a regular basis.
• One in three men (34%) say they regularly eat unhealthy food, compared to fewer women (27%) who admit the same.
• Women (38%) are more likely than men (30%) to say that they want to go on a diet or lose weight.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of RBC Insurance from 03/27 to 04/10, 2008. For this survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 2251 Canadian adults was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1772.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population of Canada been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Research Manager
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
[email protected]

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