Health: Data Definitions and Sources

Life expectancy

2011 data. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a person can be expected to live.

Sources: Statistics Canada, custom tabulation; OECD.Stat.

Self-reported health status

2012 data for provinces and territories and most countries. 2011 data for Australia and Ireland. 2010 data for Japan.

This indicator measures the percentage of the population, aged 15 years or older, who report their health to be “good” or “very good.”

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2012 (microdata); OECD.Stat.

Self-reported mental health status

2012 data.

This indicator measures the percentage of the population, aged 15 years or older, who report their mental health to be “very good” or “excellent.”

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 105-0503, Health Indicator Profile, Age-Standardized Rate, Annual Estimates, by Sex, Canada, Provinces and Territories.

Premature mortality

2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the potential years of life lost (PYLL) due to all causes per 100,000 population in a given year. PYLL measures the additional years a person would have lived had he or she experienced normal life expectancy, added up for the whole population. The calculation of PYLL involves summing up deaths occurring at each age and multiplying this by the number of remaining years of life up to a selected age limit.

The OECD’s limit of 70 years was chosen for the PYLL calculations. Statistics Canada reports premature mortality using a different definition from the OECD. Statistics Canada considers each death premature if it occurs before the age of 75, while the OECD considers deaths before 70 premature. Statistics Canada’s provincial mortality data were converted using the OECD definition. Using the “raw” data on the number of deaths by age and by province, for every recorded mortality, if the death occurred before the age of 70, then the difference between 70 and the age at which the death occurred was calculated as the number of potential years of life lost. For example, if a person died at age 20, then he/she will add 50 (70-20) potential years of life lost to the province’s PYLL.

The data by province were then age-standardized relative to the 2011 Canadian population. This was done by assuming that each province, across all years, had the same demographic profile as Canada in 2011. Essentially, the age-standardized PYLL for a province was the average of the PYLL across all age groups, where each age-group was weighted according to its weight in the 2011 Canada population.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM tables 102-0504, Death and Mortality Rates, by Age Group and Sex, Canada, Provinces and Territories, and 051-0001, Estimates of Population, by Age Group and Sex for July 1, Canada, Provinces and Territories; OECD.Stat.

Infant mortality

Average of 2009 to 2011 data.

This indicator measures the number of infant deaths—that is, deaths of children under one year of age—per 1,000 live births.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 102-0504, Death and Mortality Rates, by Age Group and Sex, Canada, Provinces and Territories; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due to cancer*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to cancer per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 102-0563, Leading Causes of Death, Total Population, by Sex, Canada, Provinces and Territories; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due to heart disease and stroke*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to heart disease and stroke per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 102-0552, Age-Standardized Mortality Rates by Selected Causes, by Sex; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due to respiratory diseases*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to respiratory diseases per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 102-0552, Age-Standardized Mortality Rates by Selected Causes, by Sex; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due to diabetes*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to diabetes mellitus per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 102-0552, Age-Standardized Mortality Rates by Selected Causes, by Sex; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due to nervous system diseases*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to nervous system diseases per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, custom tabulation; OECD.Stat.

Mortality due suicides*

Average of 2009 to 2011 data. The 2011 data for Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. were projected using the previous 10-year growth rate. Where possible, missing historical country data have been interpolated between two available data points.

This indicator measures the annual number of deaths due to suicide per 100,000 population. To make the data comparable, the provincial data were age-standardized to the OECD population using the OECD’s data for Canada as a reference.

Sources: Statistics Canada, custom tabulation; OECD.Stat.

*Data are age-standardized to allow for fair comparisons of regions with different population age profiles. For indicators such as mortality rates due to diseases, age is related to the outcome—for example, mortality rates due to disease are typically higher for older populations. Therefore, the data are age-standardized, using a standard reference population, to remove the effect of age and allow for fair comparisons among regions with different age distributions.