Statistics Canada has published its annual health report, Health of Canadians, 2024, a summary of key health indicators collected during the year across several sociodemographic characteristics. It found that life expectancy is up, but fewer Canadians report having good or excellent health. Cancer and heart disease remain the leading causes of death in Canada, while COVID-19 deaths declined during the study period. Chronic diseases are unevenly distributed and more common among adults in rural areas and proportionately fewer Canadians report having a regular health care provider.
Life expectancy
They say following three years of decline, life expectancy at birth in Canada rose from 81.3 years in 2022 to 81.7 years in 2023. “However, this increase still left life expectancy 0.5 years below the level of 82.2 years observed in 2019,” they write.
Cancer and heart disease together accounted for 43.7 per cent of all deaths in 2023, up from 42.4 per cent in 2022. The number of COVID-19 deaths, meanwhile, increased from 14,617 in 2021 to 19,906 in 2022 before declining 60 per cent to just 7,963 deaths in 2023.
Doctor shortage
As for doctors, they say after remaining stable at around 85 per cent between 2017 and 2022, the proportion of Canadian adults who report having a regular heath care provider declined to 82.8 per cent in 2023. “The share was particularly low for adults living in Quebec (74.2 per cent), adults in the lowest income quintile (79.9 per cent) and young adults aged 18 to 34 years old (73.6 per cent),” they write. “Additionally, nearly three million Canadians (9.2 per cent of the population aged 15 years and older) reported having unmet needs for healthcare in 2022, up 1.3 percentage points from the previous year (7.9 per cent).”
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