Canadians are dedicating less time to socializing with friends than ever before, with the most significant decrease observed in the working-age population, a new report suggests.
Only 19.3 percent of Canadians surveyed by Statistics Canada reported seeing friends on an average day in 2022, a significant drop from 47.9 percent in 1986, according to the agency’s newly released report.
The sharpest decline was observed among individuals aged 25 to 64, with the probability of encountering a friend on any particular day decreasing from 42 percent to 14 percent over the 36-year timeframe.
“For people who did see friends, the average time spent together declined from five hours per day in 1986 to 3.8 hours in 2022,” the report said. “These downward trends in seeing friends coincided with more Canadians worrying that they did not spend enough time with family and friends.” …