One More Reason Why We Love Canada

Congratulations, Canada! Once again you’ve shown just how great you are.

We Canadians know how to take care of our own. And in case we needed proof, we got it—in the very first global aging index.

img: Nimalan Tharmalingam

The Global AgeWatch Index ranks countries by how well—or how poorly—the country’s oldest citizens are living.

The index considers four areas of wellness:

Income

Health

Employment and education

Enabling environment

Each country is scored according to certain indicators in each area of wellness. The score is tallied—and the closer the score is to 100, the better the elderly of that country fare compared to the rest of the world.

Canada ranked 5^th out of 91 countries. Only Sweden (#1 on the list), Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands ranked higher.

img: helpage.org

Some key Canada observations:

78% of people over 65 receive a pension

At 60, the average Canadian can expect to live 25 more years.

Just as many people over 50 feel their life has meaning as do 35-49-year-olds.

96% of people over 50 have friends or relatives they can count on when in trouble

79% of people over 50 feel safe walking home at night in their city or town

Read the full report on Canada, including all indicator scores for each category, and let us know what you think in the comments.

By: stefanie