Are the Maritime provinces more humane?

That’s what the latest data from the Humanity Index suggests. Among all provinces, those in Atlantic Canada show the highest Humanity Index in the country (61.7). In a context where all provinces have fallen below the symbolic threshold of 60, this is a notable result, even if it remains modest.

It is also in the Maritime provinces that people rate their personal Humanity Index the highest (76.7 vs. the national average of 75.1). It seems one thing may help explain the other.

Correlation Between Happiness and Humanity
Even though the notions of happiness and humanity are fundamentally different in how they are measured—the former evaluates the “I” and the latter the “We”—many similarities emerge from the collected data. Since 2006, when Léger began surveying Canadians’ happiness through the Happiness Index, the Maritime provinces have consistently reported the highest levels of happiness. And now, we’re seeing the same trend with humanity.

These results, along with other data collected over the past 20 years by the Léger Happiness Index, suggest that community strength, citizen involvement, and mutual support are powerful contributing factors to a society’s social well-being. Often, they matter more than money, which paradoxically fuels our individualism, independence, and distances us from collective interests.

It’s always the same dilemma: How can we nourish the “I” without draining the “We”?