Alberta’s quality of life rivals the best countries in the world

Study shows how Canadian provinces, territories stack up against other world capitals

OTTAWA— Canada sits on an enviable top-10 perch when it comes to quality of life around the world, but a new analysis points to significant disparity among its provinces and territories.

Albertans, for example, enjoyed a quality of life in 2014 comparable to countries like Switzerland or Denmark, says a new report that seeks to replicate the UN human development index for Canadian regions.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nunavut would have had a quality of life similar to that of Latvia or Croatia, according to the report released Thursday.

Overall, Canada holds down the ninth spot on the 2015 UN index of 188 countries, which was based on 2014 data. It tied with New Zealand, one slot below the United States.

By comparison, if Alberta had been stacked up against countries on the list, it would have landed in fourth place — the highest among Canada’s provinces and territories. Ontario would have been eighth. Nunavut would have ended up 46th, the report says.

“Although most Canadian provinces and territories achieve impressive ranks in the international context, evidently Canada’s overall (human development index) masks substantial variation among the different regions,” said the paper by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

“Our report highlights the diverse human development experiences of Canadians.” The UN human development index is a frequently used tool that measures one country’s standing with another. It combines data on life expectancy, education and gross national income to produce a ranking of the UN’s member countries. To replicate the index for provinces and territories, report author and economist James Uguccioni wrote that he used Statistics Canada data to ensure it was as consistent as possible.