How Are You? Two in Five say Not OK

Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift · Mar 28, 2026 · 10m

Declining mental health in Canada has a specific number attached to it now. Statistics Canada measured how many people reported feeling happy and interested in life. In 2015 it was 78 percent. By 2024 it had fallen to 61 percent. That is not a small shift. One in five Canadians was struggling with emotional health a decade ago. Now it is two in five.

What does it feel like to realize that the things that feel personal, the anxiety, the low-grade exhaustion, the difficulty trusting people around you, are actually part of a measurable national pattern? Dr. Perry Adler names the contributors…