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Living Standards

Employment and income information are important aspects of living standards - they provide an indication of how financially "comfortable" people are. The distribution of wealth in the population is also very important, particularly from a health perspective. There is much evidence showing that societies with less of a difference between the high and low income groups have better health overall.

Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in Waterloo Wellington has fluctuated across the years, but it has consistently been lower than the Ontario and Canada rates. ^{[6] [7]}

Low Income

People are considered "low income" if they spend more than a certain percentage of their income on food, shelter and clothing. As you can see, the most recent data available from 2011 shows that there are relatively fewer low-income residents in Waterloo Wellington than in the other LHINs. ^[4]

Life Satisfaction

The majority of Waterloo Wellington residents (92.2%) reported feeling satisfied or very satisfied with their lives in 2013/2014. This is not significantly different than either the Canada rate of 92.0% or the Ontario rate of 90.9%. ^[1]

Perceived Life Stress: Quite a Lot

The percent of Waterloo Wellington residents who report "quite a lot" of stress in their lives has increased from 21.2% in 2007/2008 to 23.7% in 2013/2014. It is also among the highest of the LHINs. ^[1]

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