Vancouver residents fall short in StatsCan happiness poll

Is it the rain? The high price of real estate? Whatever the reason, people living in Metro Vancouver seem to be less happy with their lives than most Canadians.

On average, Vancouverites rated their satisfaction with life as a 7.8 on a scale of 10 in surveys conducted between 2009 and 2013, the lowest rating for any census metropolitan area in the country, according to Statistics Canada. Fewer than 35 per cent of Vancouverites rated their satisfaction with life as a 9 or above, compared with about 45 per cent of people living in the northern Ontario city of Sudbury.

The results from the General Social Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey suggest that people living in smaller communities are generally happier with their lives. Most of the cities that rate highest in the rankings have populations under 250,000.

According to Statistics Canada, women reported slightly higher life satisfaction than men, and people in their 40s and early 50s were less happy than younger or older people.

Married people were more satisfied than single and divorced people, and people born in Canada were more satisfied than immigrants.