Nearly 40% of people in Canada reported struggling with their mental health, addiction, or alcohol issues in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns continue to grip the country.
“It’s one of those situations where you start to see the cracks coming together … The younger people are less likely to say that they’re doing well in this circumstance,” said market research CEO of Ipsos Darrell Bricker, whose firm conducted the poll. “And one of the things that seem to be affecting their lives is the reliance on alcohol addiction and mental health issues, which are more highly correlated with youth than with older people.”
About 40% in the country have suffered from mental health or addictions, with the young being the most likely to report such problems. People making under $40,000 were also more likely to report that they had suffered from similar issues.
The poll found that 15% reported drinking more alcohol this year than in previous years, while opioid overdoses and deaths have also risen. Experts have attributed the rise in addiction and substance abuse to social isolation, job loss, and a disruption to services in response to the pandemic.
While the elderly are more likely to face complications from the virus itself, the young have carried the brunt of the policies aimed at stopping the spread of the pandemic.
“Elderly people are actually usually reasonably well-off. They’ve got, for the most part, good homes. They’ve found a way to save for their retirement. Their kids have all moved out and moved on to other stages of life,” Bricker said. “If you want to find the trouble spots, you want to find the cracks, go to Canadians under the age of 35 because that’s where you really start to see the cracks.”
With people being bunkered in their homes for a large part of the year, the country has seen a rise in the number of citizens gaining weight. About 30% reported gaining weight, with women more likely than men to report the problem.
“It‘s one of those things where people have either they’ve either eaten their feelings, or they’ve gone in the other direction, and they decided to do something about their health. But the preponderance right now is that people feel that they put on weight, especially women,” Bricker said.
