In Canada in 2022, the number of deaths being reported by Statistics Canada climbed 7.3 per cent when compared to 2021 figures. The increase was noted across all provinces and territories, except Nunavut.
The age-standardized mortality rate, meanwhile, also increased from 907.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2021 to 972.5 deaths in 2022. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, the age-standardized mortality rate was 830.5 deaths per 100,000 Canadians.
Life expectancy also decreased for a third year in a row, from 81.6 years in 2021 to 81.3 years in 2022. Cancer and heart disease remain the two leading causes of death in 2022, but the report, Deaths, 2022, also notes that COVID-19 deaths are at their highest recorded levels since the start of the pandemic.
“The number of COVID-19 deaths increased from 14,466 in 2021 to 19,716 in 2022, the highest number of such deaths recorded since the beginning of the pandemic,” Statistics Canada researchers write. Among older Canadians over age 65, death rates are approaching early pandemic levels.
They say during the first year of the pandemic, older Canadians, over 65, accounted for 94.1 per cent of COVID-19 deaths, while those between 45 and 64 years of age accounted for 5.3 per cent. In 2022, they say while the number of COVID-19 deaths among those over 65 remained high, the proportion of deaths among those between 45 and 64 nearly tripled to 15.5 per cent.
The largest increase in COVID-19 deaths was reported in Atlantic Canada where those deaths in 2022 were more than seven times higher than in 2021. Across all provinces in 2022, cancer and heart disease accounted for 41.8 per cent of all deaths, a slight decline from 44.3 per cent reported in 2021.