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January 16, 2026QUALITY OF LIFE: DIFFICULTY MEETING FINANCIAL NEEDS, Q2 2025 Statistics Canada has updated data from the Canadian Social Survey about how Canadians perceive their ease or difficulty in meeting financial needs. The latest data were collected up to June 2025 (Q2). National data does not include any results from the Territories. Results are stated as the share of the population reporting.
In Nova Scotia, 39.7% of Q2 2025 respondents reported finding meeting financial needs difficult or very difficult. This was just above the national share (39.4%) that found meeting financial needs difficult or very difficult. Respondents in Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick had higher shares reporting difficulty meeting financial needs. Respondents in Québec and British Columbia were less likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs.
A further 34.2% of Nova Scotia respondents reported that meeting financial needs was neither easy nor difficult (national: 36.5%). More respondents in Prince Edward Island reported neither ease nor difficulty in meeting financial needs.
For Q2 2025, 26.2% of Nova Scotia respondents reported that meeting financial needs was easy or very easy - the second highest portion reporting easy financial conditions (after respondents in Québec). Across Canada, 24.1% of respondents reported easy or very easy financial conditions with the lowest share in Prince Edward Island.
Difficulty in meeting financial needs moderated in Q1 2025, but this reversed in Q2 2025. The prevalence of easy financial conditions improved from Q2 2024 to Q1 2025, but has contracted substantially in the last quarter's results.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 45-10-0086-01 Difficulty meeting financial needs, by gender and province
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