How is Quebec? No worse, no worse! No worse, no worse!, as Ron Fournier would say.
Over the years, Quebec society has clearly progressed. Good for us! But, are we falling behind the rest of Canada? Or, on the contrary, are we ahead of all the other Canadian provinces?
There is nothing better than going through a panoply of “progress indicators” on the well-being and national wealth of Quebec society to get to the bottom of it, or almost.
It is this rigorous exercise that three specialists from the Quebec Institute of Statistics (ISQ) have just carried out, namely Marie-Andrée Gravel, Sarah Roy-Milliard and Stéphanie Uhde. Without further ado, here are the main conclusions of their study.
First, Quebec shows better results than the rest of Canada in several aspects of well-being, particularly in terms of controlling poverty and employment.
Two, personal income is, on the other hand, lower in Quebec.
Three, economic capital (infrastructure and other non-residential fixed assets, government net worth) is more valuable in the rest of Canada, at $65,556 per capita compared to only $41,241 per capita. head of Quebecers.
Fourth, human capital (post-secondary diploma and life expectancy) is however stronger in Quebec. While 80.3% of 25 to 34 year olds hold a postsecondary diploma in Quebec, this percentage drops to 73.8% elsewhere in Canada. And as for life expectancy, it reaches 83 years here, almost a year more than in the other provinces.
Five, however, trust in others is more widespread in the rest of Canada. Some 57.1% of Canadians aged 15 and over trust people, compared to 44.2% of Quebecers.
Six, GHGs (greenhouse gases) per capita are lower in Quebec. We emit 10.9 “tonnes of CO2 equivalent / inhabitant”, i.e. two times less than the 23.3 tonnes per inhabitant emitted in the rest of the country.
Let us now see the evolution of Quebec’s progress according to several key indicators.
GDP REAL
Real GDP per capita in Quebec was $45,105 in 2020. It has increased since 2005 at an average annual growth rate (+0.34%) higher than the rest of Canada (+0.19%). Despite this, our real GDP per capita remains significantly lower.
Real GDP per capita reached $55,557 in all the other provinces, or $10,452 more (+23.2%) than here.
In short, we got rich, but we are royally lagging behind other Canadians.
MEDIAN INCOME
Between 2004 and 2019, the adjusted median following-tax household income rose by $10,811 in Quebec, from $35,360 to $46,171. This represents an increase of 31%. This is clearly more than the increase (22%) obtained in the rest of Canada for the same period.
But there once more, we are lagging behind. In the rest of Canada, the median following-tax income of a Canadian household reached $51,501 in 2019, or $5,330 more than that of a Quebec household.
The rise in the median income increases the ability of households to meet their basic needs and to protect themselves once morest economic or personal contingencies.
POVERTY RATE
In 2019, indicates Statistics Quebec, some 8.7% of the Quebec population lived below the poverty line. This represents a clear improvement of 5 percentage points compared to 2015 when the rate was 13.7%.
Quebec fares much better here than the rest of Canada, where the poverty rate was 10.5% in 2019.
For experts from Statistics Quebec, the decline in poverty in Quebec “reflects not only an increase in the number of people able to meet their basic needs and live beyond the modest living conditions described by the measure of the consumption, but also a reduction in inequalities”, adding that the well-being of the population and the progress of Quebec are thus favored.
EMPLOYMENT RATE
In 2021, 78.3% of the population aged 25 to 64 were employed in Quebec, compared to 76.9% in the rest of Canada.
The employment rate in La Belle Province has increased by 6 percentage points since 2003, while it has stagnated in all the other Canadian provinces.
“The growth in the employment rate indicates that a greater proportion of the population of Quebec is employed, and thereby benefits from the resulting benefits, including earning an income, acquiring skills and to feel a sense of purpose. Well-being has therefore increased, thus contributing to the progress of Quebec,” specifies Statistics Quebec.
DIPLOMATION
Between 2012 and 2020, the graduation (or qualification) gap following entering secondary school between the proportions of students from advantaged backgrounds and those from disadvantaged backgrounds decreased by 7.6 percentage points, from 28 .9% to 21.3%.
In 2020, the secondary school graduation rate was 87% in “advantaged backgrounds” compared to 85.1% in 2012. In “disadvantaged backgrounds”, graduation reached a rate of 65.7%, compared to only 56.2% in 2012.
When more people obtain a diploma or a qualification, this has a positive impact on the labor market and people’s income.
ENVIRONMENT
The number of days for which the threshold for the concentration of fine particles in the air in Québec was exceeded decreased significantly between 2009 and 2020, going from 254 days in 2009 to 96 days in 2020.
This reduction in the number of exceedance days since 2009 in Quebec represents an improvement in the quality of the environment.
MENTAL HEALTH
In 2019, approximately 72% of the Quebec population aged 12 and over considered their mental health to be excellent or very good. This is still 3 percentage points less than in 2015.
But compared to the rest of Canada, Quebecers have better morale, because only 65.5% of other Canadians believe they have excellent mental health!
