Canadian happiness scores are dropping fast. Why?

Canadian happiness scores are dropping fast. Why?

From CanCon by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, Laura Palmer, Mat Keselman

April 2, 2026 · 22 min · Episode 27

About this episode

The episode discusses the significant drop in Canadian happiness scores and the factors contributing to this change.

When the World Happiness Report first began scoring countries on their self-reported levels of happiness in 2012, Canada was consistently in the top 10. It felt right, we were pretty happy. Over the past several years, things have been changing, first slowly and now rapidly. In the recently published edition of the report, Canadians' happiness levels ranked 25th in the world, by far a new low. And that precipitous drop has been driven predominantly by one demographic... UBC Professor Emeritus and co-creator and editor of the World Happiness Report John Helliwell joins us to discuss what's changed, who's unhappy and what we know about how to generate happiness in our own lives from two decades of scientific research.

People in this episode

Hosts: Jordan Heath-Rawlings, Laura Palmer, Mat Keselman

Guest: John Helliwell

Topics covered

  • happiness
  • Canada
  • demographics
  • scientific research
  • World Happiness Report

Keywords

  • happiness scores
  • Canada
  • World Happiness Report
  • John Helliwell
  • demographics
  • scientific research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: World Happiness Report

Places: Canada, UBC

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