Data availability: Life expectancy by health region and peer group, 2023 boundaries and names

Life expectancy is the number of years a person would be expected to live, starting from birth (life expectancy at birth) or from age 65 years (life expectancy at age 65 years), if the age- and sex-specific mortality rates observed during a given period (such as a calendar year) remained constant throughout that person's lifetime. Life expectancy is a widely used indicator of the health of a population. Life expectancy measures duration rather than quality of life.

Life tables, from which life expectancy at different ages is drawn, are computed using death records from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database and Statistics Canada's population estimates.

Statistics Canada's life tables are produced using three years of death records in order to provide stable results, especially for provinces and territories with smaller population sizes. Thus, the life expectancy for 2024 is computed using 2022, 2023 and 2024 death records.

Health regions are defined by the provinces and represent areas or regions of interest to health authorities. More information on the health regions and their 2023 boundaries can be found on the web page, "Health Regions: Boundaries and Correspondence with Census Geography."

Health region peer groups are a classification of the health regions into groups based on similar socioeconomic determinants of health, such as low-income prevalence and the long-term unemployment rate. This classification covers all provinces and territories. By grouping health regions with similar socioeconomic profiles, peer groups enable more accurate comparisons of the relative effectiveness of health promotion and prevention activities. More information on the 2023 health region peer groups can be found on the web page, "Health Region Peer Groups – Working paper, 2023."