March 8th, 2023, Janice Fernandes
Inflation rates are slowing down in 2023, but consumers around the world are continuing to feel the pinch of the rising cost of living to varying degrees. In which categories are Canadians and Americans noticing an increase in prices?
Data from a recent YouGov survey shows that Canadians are more likely than Americans to notice price increases in every category.
Groceries register the highest percentage with 88% of Canadians and 80% of Americans noticing major or minor increase in prices. This data reflects the findings in Canada’s Food Price Report 2023, which predicts Canadians will have to spend more on food this year.
Fuel for motor vehicles is the second-highest category in Canada with 76% of consumers noticing an increase. But Americans are more likely to notice an increase in home energy bills (67%) than fuel prices (60%).
Around two-thirds of Canadians say they’ve noticed an increase in health/pharmaceutical items (68%) and housing rent (66%). While over half of Americans share the same opinion about increasing costs of pharmaceutical items (53%), not as many think there’s been an increase in the cost of rent or mortgages (48%).
Other major spending categories include clothes and mobile phone network costs where a significant share of consumers in both markets say they have noticed an increase – clothes (65% in Canada; 52% in US) more than mobile network costs (48% in Canada; 32% in US).
Many forms of entertainment are also seeing a noticeable share of consumers saying they have experienced price increases, like media streaming services (57% in Canada and 45% in US), out-of-home leisure activities such as cinema or music concerts (54%; 41%), consumer electronics such as televisions, laptops, video games, and headphones (51%; 38%). Video games have seen the lowest percentage of consumers who have noticed price increases with only 24% of Canadians and 18% of Americans noticing uplifts in cost.
Over a third of Americans (34%) and more than two in five Canadians (45%) say they’ve noticed an increase in hotel prices. But the global picture for travel in 2023 reveals the appetite for leisure travel is at its highest point now since the start of the pandemic.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 512 and 2027 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in January 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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