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From: STATISTICS CANADA
Internet site:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050201/td050201.htm
Tuesday, February 1, 2005. Released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time
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Health Indicators
This new issue of Health Indicators, an Internet-based data
publication, features updated health region level data and maps based on
the most recent vital and cancer statistics available. Updates include:
life expectancy, infant mortality, low-birth weight, and mortality rates
by selected causes.
Even though Canada has one of the highest life expectancies in the
world, today's release of Health Indicators demonstrates that life
expectancy varies widely between health regions. People living in Northern
and remote regions of Canada, many of whom are Aboriginal, have life
expectancies more in line with developing countries than with other
Canadians.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2001 for both
sexes, Canada had the ninth highest life expectancy in the world,
only 2.1 years behind Japan, which has the longest life expectancy in the
world at 81.4 years. Canada has the seventh highest life expectancy for
men and the eleventh highest life expectancy for women, very similar to
other wealthy, industrialized countries.
However, within Canada there exist wide variations in health status.
Placed within an international perspective, these disparities are
especially revealing. The Richmond Health Service Delivery Area in British
Columbia has the highest life expectancy in Canada at 83.4 years, two
years higher than Japan and at the top of the WHO's ranking.
At the other end of the spectrum is Région de Nunavik in Quebec, which
has the lowest life expectancy in Canada at 66.7 years for males and
females. This places Région de Nunavik between the Dominican Republic
(67.0 years) and Egypt (66.5 years), ranked at 111 and 112 out
of 191 countries.
There are many factors that can affect a person's health: geography,
socio-economic circumstances, health behaviours, and interactions among
the three.
Canadian communities with the lowest life expectancies are in the most
northern and isolated parts of Canada, and are also characterized by low
incomes and a high proportion of the population receiving government
transfer payments. Smoking, heavy drinking and high mortality rates due to
suicides and accidents are also prevalent in these health regions.
Health regions enjoying the highest life expectancies are typically
urban communities experiencing high population growth, and are
characterized by higher incomes and educational attainment. Smoking, heavy
drinking, and mortality rates due to suicides and injuries are low.
The links between geography, socio-economic characteristics, health
behaviours, and health status are complex. However, the "peer group"
concept introduced in earlier issues of Health Indicators can be used to
address these questions. Peer groups consist of health regions with common
socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Health regions that are
anomalies within a peer group in terms of health status and health
behaviours can be used by researchers to identify the pathways that create
good or poor health.
Also featured in this release are breastfeeding rates by province,
territory, and peer group. The 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey found
that 19% of Canadian mothers who had a baby in the last five years
breastfed for at least six months, without introducing other solids or
liquids. Women using this method of feeding ranged from 10% in Quebec
to 29% in British Columbia.
Health Indicators is produced by Statistics Canada and the Canadian
Institute for Health Information. It provides a set of indicators that
measures the health of the Canadian population and the health care system.
These indicators are designed to provide comparable information at the
Canada, provincial/territorial and health region level, and are based on
standard definitions and methods.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related
surveys, 3226, 3207, 3231 and 3233.
The new issue of Health Indicators, 2005, no. 1 (82-221-XIE, free) is
now available online. From the Our products and services page, under
Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Health.
For more information, contact Client Services (613-951-1746;
[log in to unmask]). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality
of this release, contact Brenda Wannell (613-951-8554;
[log in to unmask]), or Stacey Todd (613-951-4442;
[log in to unmask]), Health Statistics Division.
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