Common menu bar

• Français
• Home
• Contact Us
• Help
• Search
• canada.gc.ca

Breadcrumb

1. Home > Well-being Home > Social Participation >
2. Participation in Social Activities

Social Participation - Participation in Social Activities

Relevance

Participation in social activities is an important element of people's well-being and their ability to socialize with others. Being socially connected with other people and with social institutions, such as clubs and organizations, fosters social interaction, helps increase people's sense of belonging, and provides balance in people's lives. Belonging to social networks can also provide a number of tangible benefits, including information, access to goods and services, and business contacts, as well as emotional support.

The participation in social activities indicator measures the involvement of Canadians in activities they undertake with a group. These may be formal organizations that involve paid membership (e.g., unions or professional associations), or they may be more informal and involve groups of people who get together to do an activity or discuss things.

Summary

• National Picture — In 2003, 61% of Canadians reported that they were involved in at least one social activity group.
• Gender — More men (63%) were involved in social activity groups in 2003 than women (59%).
• Age — In 2003, Canadians aged 65 and older reported the lowest rate of involvement in social activity groups (52%).
• Regions — In 2003, Canadians' involvement in social activity groups ranged from 53% in Quebec to 68% in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

National Picture

In 2003, 61% of Canadians maintained some level of involvement in social activity groups. Of these, 41% participated in one or two groups, while 20% were involved in three or more.

Canadians who participated in at least one social activity group in 2003 were mostly involved with sports and recreational organizations (28%), as well as union and professional associations (25%). Cultural, educational, and hobby organizations (18%), religious-affiliated groups (17%), and school or community organizations (16%) were also quite popular among Canadians.

Some Canadians were involved to a lesser extent in fraternal or service clubs (8%), as well as political organizations (5%).

Gender

The majority of men and women participated in social activity groups in 2003, with men reporting slightly more involvement (63%) than women (59%).

Age

In 2003, the rate of participation in social activity groups was 62% to 63% for Canadians in all age categories, except for those aged 65 and over, whose participation rate stood at 52%.

Regions

In 2003, respondents in British Columbia and Saskatchewan were the most involved in social activity groups, as nearly 70% of their respective populations stated that they were involved with at least one such organization.

By comparison, respondents in Quebec were the least involved in social activity groups: just over 50% indicated that they had participated in at least one such organization.

In the remaining provinces, involvement in social activity groups in 2003 ranged from 58% in New Brunswick to 65% in Alberta.

Download Data

• Download the data in Excel format (.xls, 6656 bytes)
• Download the data in tab-delimited text format (.txt, 1880 bytes)

To access the Microsoft Excel Format (XLS) version you must have an Excel reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous XLS readers available for free download:

• Excel Viewer
• Open Office

To view the TXT version, use the document conversion features available in most word processing software, or use a file viewer capable of reading TXT.

---

Primary navigation (left column)

Date Modified:

2013-05-23