Canadians Living Longer
The life expectancy for both men and women in Canada has reached a record high, according to mortality statistics for 2003 from Statistics Canada. The life expectancy at birth for women rose to a record high of 82.4 years from 82.1 years in 2003, and it went up to a record high for men of 77.4 years in 2003 from 77.2 years the year before.
The overall life expectancy for both sexes in Canada rose to 79.9 years in 2003, up from 79.7 years in 2002.
Life expectancy in 2003 for both sexes combined was highest in British Columbia and Ontario.
Canadian Death Statistics
The total number of deaths in Canada continues on an upward trend due to both a growing population and an aging population. The number of deaths in Canada in 2003 was up 1.2 percent from the year before to a total of 226,169. All provinces and territories had an increase in deaths, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, Quebec and the Yukon.
Causes of Death in Canada
For the last quarter century, the leading causes of deaths in Canada have been diseases of the circulatory system and cancer.
In 2003, diseases of the circulatory system were responsible for 32.8 percent or nearly a third of deaths in Canada. That's down considerably from 47.3 percent or nearly a half in 1979.
In 2003, 29.2 percent of deaths in Canada were due to cancer, an increase of 1.4 percent from the year before. Since 1979, the proportion of deaths from cancer in Canada has increased from 22.9 percent.
More than 55 percent of the cancer deaths were in five sites - lung, colorectal, female breast, male prostate and pancreas.
Infectious Diseases in Canada
In 2003, Canada had two significant outbreaks of infectious diseases: C. difficile infection and Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
There were 511 deaths in Canada due to C. difficile in 2003, a 67.5 percent increase from 2002. Most of the increase was in the province of Quebec, where deaths due to C. difficile infection more than doubled to 355 in 2003.
There were 30 deaths due to SARS in 2003. All SARS deaths occurred in Ontario.
