The FINANCIAL — As summer vacation season approaches, millions of Canadians say they are “completely satisfied” with their amount of leisure time, according to a global survey GfK conducted in 22 countries.
Slightly over one in five (23%) Canadian men and women ages 15 and over say they are “completely” satisfied with their amount of time off. This puts Canadians second on the global satisfaction scale, ahead of third-place Sweden but behind the US, where 24% say they are completely satisfied with their level of leisure time. If look at those who are at least “fairly” satisfied with their time off, the numbers are still impressive – 69% for Americans and 67% for Canadians.
There is little difference between Canadian sexes in terms of their leisure time satisfaction levels, with 24% of women and 23% of men saying they are “completely” satisfied. On the flip side, only 3% of Canadian men and women say they are “not at all” satisfied with the amount of time they have to themselves.
Retirement does bring satisfaction with leisure time
Not surprisingly, Canadians ages 60 and over are the most likely to be satisfied with their amount of leisure time, with 44% calling themselves “completely” satisfied – 20 percentage points ahead of the next highest Canadian age group. Another 41% of those 60+ say they are “fairly” pleased with their time off, a level comparable to the other age segments (which range from 40% to 49%).
Across all 22 countries surveyed, 16% of people ages 15 and over say they are “completely” satisfied with the amount of leisure time they have, while 42% are “fairly” satisfied. Only 18% are dissatisfied to any degree, including 4% who are not at all satisfied with their amount of leisure time. The remaining quarter (24%) are neutral on the topic.
These findings are valuable for all businesses offering products or services that focus on people’s leisure and relaxation time, by helping to identify how messaging can be refined to resonate most strongly with each group. For example, people who are least satisfied with their amount of leisure time are likely to respond to offers focused around making the most of limited free time, or activities that can be tailored to fit around irregular periods of leisure.
The countries where people are least likely to be happy with their leisure time are led by Russia, where nearly a third (31%) are not at all satisfied, or not too satisfied – closely followed by Japan (30%) and Brazil (28%).
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