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Canada is home to some of the world’s most beautiful natural scenery and landscapes, including the Canadian Rockies, the Northern Lights, and Niagara Falls, to name a few. The country has a rich and colourful history and is also well-known for maple syrup and ice hockey.
Canada has produced some of the world’s most talented artists, including globally renowned singers, actors, musicians, and bands, such as RUSH, Nickelback, Jim Carrey, Steppenwolf, Ryan Gosling, Michael J. Fox, and Celine Dion.
Others include Ryan Reynolds, Alanis Morissette, Neil Young, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, Seth Rogan, Keanu Reeves, John Candy, and Mike Myers. When other people think of Canada, the three groups of Indigenous peoples, also known as the First Nations, often spring to mind.
Canadians are known for being warm and welcoming to outsiders and for their cheerful and friendly personalities, but what do they do in their spare time, and what are Canada’s most popular pastimes?
What are the most popular pastimes in Canada?
Canadians enjoy indulging in a broad range of hobbies and pastimes in their spare time, just like anyone else across the globe. However, their landscape and countryside does allow them to appreciate the great outdoors more than some other nations.
Some of you may be surprised to learn what the most popular pastimes were when statistics were last gathered as recently as December 2023. They include the following:
- Cooking/baking – 42%
- Reading – 41%
- Travelling – 36%
- Outdoor activities – 35%
- Pets – 33%
- Video gaming – 33%
- Socializing – 29%
- Board games/card games – 25%
- DIY and arts & crafts – 25%
- Gardening and plants – 24%
Other popular pastimes in Canada include sports and fitness activities (25%), tech/computers (23%), meditation/wellness (19%), photography (19%), cars/vehicles (17%), writing (17%), making music (6%), and other / don’t know (3%).
Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a significant uptake in the amount of Canadians starting to participate in gaming as a common pastime. Within this there’s been a significant shift towards video games, but also towards online gambling as well. We’ve seen attitudes shift over the past few years, with the rise of streaming bringing huge popularity to online gaming.
Along with this, some streamers have also moved into online gambling as a way to provide content for their fans, leading to a surge in the market across Canada and the rest of the world. However, same as buying a game, make sure you’re going to the best sites for your experience. Instead of the Steam Store reviews, there are sites like, onlinecasino.ca comparing online casinos so those looking to gamble are able to make an informed decision.
How are the popular pastimes ranked in terms of popularity?
When determining which pastimes are popular, many factors are considered, such as the most obvious one – the number of people who claim to be actively engaged in a pastime or hobby, and how often they actually get around to doing it.
Other things that are considered are how accessible and widely available these pastimes are to the masses, as well as demographics, such as the average age, cultural background, and gender of those involved in pastimes.
The more diverse and far-reaching the hobby is, the more widespread its popularity is. You can also take into account specific growth trends of pastimes and even the economic impact those pastimes have on the local and national economies.
Social media and other forms of media also help pastimes become more popular, and many pastimes have entire websites/channels/magazines/apps dedicated to them, which also help them spread and become more popular. This has also become something we’ve seen more since the pandemic, with people using their time to write and report far more on their hobbies.
Some Canadian pastimes are much more generalised ones that we see across the rest of the world, such as watching movies, reading books and listening to podcasts to name a few. However, others are home-grown Canadian pastimes. Ice hockey, canoeing and hiking are all very integral to Canadian culture, which helpfully have very positive health benefits too, possibly leading to them having significantly lower obesity rates than their cousins south of the border.
Final thoughts
As you can see, Canadians have a broad range of pastimes they like to indulge in during their spare time, from adventure-seeking in the great outdoors to skating around the ice rink playing hockey to playing online games from their Wi-Fi/internet-connected smartphone, tablet, desktop computer or laptop.
Some Canadians have multiple pastimes, while others focus on just one. If you live in Canada and you’re looking for new and fun ways to spend your spare time, don’t forget to consider trying one or more of the pastimes mentioned on this page before trying any others. If that many Canadians like them it’s got to be worth a shot. Thirty eight million Canadians can’t be wrong.
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