How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada

This website—How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada—assesses Canada’s quality of life compared with that of its peer countries.

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Another “B” for Canada in Health

Canada ranks 10th among 17 peer countries and continues to be an overall “B” performer in the 2012 health report card.

On the 11 indicators used to measure health performance, Canada gets 3 “A”s, 4 “B”s and 4 “C”s. Three of Canada’s “C” grades are on mortality rates due to chronic diseases: cancer, diabetes, and musculoskeletal system diseases. Chronic diseases are exacting a toll on the country, affecting the health of Canadians and straining health care resources.

The burden from chronic diseases will only increase with an aging population and rising rates of obesity. Canada needs to focus not only on the quality of the health care system, but also on education about chronic disease risk factors and prevention.

Canada does well on three indicators, scoring “A”s: mortality due to circulatory diseases, premature mortality, and self-reported health status.

Is the world becoming more unequal?

At the global level, income inequality rose sharply around the world between the 1980s and the mid-1990s, before levelling off and then falling after 2000. Even with the recent decline, 42 per cent of total world income today goes to those who make up the richest 10 per cent of the world’s population, while just 1 per cent goes to those who make up the poorest 10 per cent. Countries with very high inequality are clustered in South America and southern Africa. Countries with low inequality are mostly in Europe. Canada and the U.S. have medium income inequality. And unlike most other countries, income inequality has continued to rise in Canada and the U.S. since the mid-1990s, with Canada outpacing the United States.
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Is Canada becoming more unequal?

Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years. The richest group of Canadians increased their share of total national income, while poor and middle-income individuals lost ground. The gap between the real average income of the richest group of Canadians and the poorest group grew from $92,300 in 1976 to $117,500 in 2009. Another worrisome trend is the rise in elderly poverty since the mid-1990s, following 20 years of dramatic reductions. Between 2006 and 2009, nearly 128,000 more seniors were living in low income. Of that amount, 70 per cent were women.
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