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July 9, 2001
Canadians gaining ground - slowly
Ottawa – The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) today announced that Canadians' overall personal security increased over the last year, despite highly publicized reports of our fall from first to third place in the United Nations Development Index rankings to be officially released this week.
The CCSD's Personal Security Index (PSI) is an innovative measure that compares hard data on the economy, health and crime (the Data Index) to polling information on how Canadians perceive they are faring in these three areas (the Perception Index). This year's PSI, the third in the series, indicates that Canadians are enjoying greater personal security than last year.
Taking 1998 as the base year and setting the indexes to equal 100.00 points for that year, the Data Index rose from 108.11 in 1999 to 112.79 in 2000. The same trend was evident in the Perception Index: it rose from 102.85 in 1999 to 103.43 in 2000. The exception to this overall progress is health, with health indicators showing very little improvement over the last year and perceptions of health among Canadians dropping slightly. As with previous editions, the PSI reveals significant differences among Canadians by income, gender, age and region.
Regional indexes, available for the first time in this year's Personal Security Index, allow for interesting comparisons.
National Highlights:
Economic Security: Overall, economic security improved over 2000, both in terms of hard data and people's perceptions. However, this masks continuing gaps between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in Canada.
Health Security: Health security increased only marginally in 2000, while Canadians perceptions of their health declined slightly. Stress is the only area where higher-income Canadians are as negatively affected as their lower-income counterparts.
Physical Safety: According to the hard data, Canadians' physical safety continued to improve in 2000, but public perceptions improved only slightly. This may be partly explained by high-profile media coverage of crime.
The Personal Security Index (PSI) was developed in collaboration with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Health Canada, the National Crime Prevention Centre, and Canadian Heritage, and with the support of Human Resources Development Canada. EKOS Research Associates Inc. supported the project and conducted the national survey for PSI 2001.
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Personal Security Index 2001 - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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