Canadians Feeling Older Than Their Years, Survey Finds

Senior citizens make their way down a street in Peterborough, Ont., on May 7, 2012. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

Canadians are more likely to feel physically and mentally older than their actual age compared with nine years ago, a new survey finds.

Twenty-five percent of Canadians say they feel physically older than their chronological age while 21 percent feel mentally older, according to a survey by Angus Reid. That compares with 23 percent and 19 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2015.

On the other hand, a substantial number of Canadians say they feel physically and mentally younger than their age, coming in at 31 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Those numbers are not as high as in 2015, however, when 38 percent said they felt physically younger and 53 percent felt mentally younger than their years.

“It had been nearly a decade since [Angus Reid] last asked Canadians to assess their relative mental and physical age,” Angus Reid said in its report.

Since 2020 alone, Canadians have had to deal with “wars overseas, a pandemic, and economic instability caused by sky-high inflation,” the report added.

Who Feels Older?

Canadians feeling longer in the tooth than their birth certificate indicates tend to be those under the age of 55, the survey found.

Men in the 35–54 age range are most likely to feel mentally older than their age, while women 18 to 34 are most likely to feel older physically.

The 18 to 34 age range and the 35 to 54 age range are also more likely to have “higher dissatisfaction” with their stress levels than in 2015, the survey found.

Among the provinces, Quebec is home to the most residents who say they feel younger physically (34 percent) and mentally (51 percent). B.C. placed second at 36 percent and 48 percent respectively.

The province with the fewest Canadians feeling young at heart is Saskatchewan, where only 18 percent feel younger physically, and 31 percent feel younger mentally.

“Regardless of how old they feel, a majority (57%) of Canadians want to live to be 90 or older,” Angus Reid said. “However, living into their 100s is only appealing to one-quarter (26%) of Canadians.”

Canadians perceive their 20s and 30s as the prime stages of their lives, with 50 percent of the respondents favouring those age ranges. Thirteen percent identified thieir 40s as the best decade, while 8 percent said childhood was best. Seven percent each choose the teen years and the 50s as best, followed by 3 percent voting for the 60s and 1 percent for the 70s. There were no votes for 80 and older.