The Health of Canadas Communities

Relative to people in most countries, Canadians enjoya high level of health. Life expectancy in Canada is among the best in the world and has been for several decades.1 However, health status is by no means evenly distributed across Canada's communities. Life expectancy, an important indicator of population health, varies considerably from region to region, from a low of 65.4 years in the Région du Nunavik, Québec, to a high of 81.2 years in Richmond, British Columbia. To some extent, such disparities can be attributed to socio-demographic differences between communities, since the life expectancy within a community is associated with factors such as the unemployment rate, the proportion of people with a postsecondary education, and the proportion of people who are Aboriginal.2 Objectives This article examines the health of Canadians at the community level. Canada's 139 health regions are grouped into 10 "peer groups " with similar socio-demographic profiles. Health outcomes and risk factors are compared between and within peer groups. Data source Life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy estimates are based on data from the 1996 Census of Canada and the Canadian Vital Statistics Database. Risk factor estimates are based on data from the 2000/0