Canadian women live longer but spend more years in poor health: StatCan

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Canadian females continue to outlive males and spend more years in good health, but a new Statistics Canada report sheds light on how their time is spent.

The report, published Friday, provides updated national measures of life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE), revealing complex patterns in population health beyond lifespan.

Life expectancy (LE) is a well-known indicator representing the average number of years a person is expected to live given current mortality rates. HALE, by contrast, estimates the number of those years that are expected to be lived in good health, accounting for morbidity and disability across a person’s lifespan, the report outlines.

In other words, HALE reflects not just how long people live, but how well they live during those years.

Women live longer and healthier lives

The 2023 data shows that life expectancy for females was 84 years, compared with 79.6 years for males - a gap of 4.4 years in total life expectancy.

On the HALE measure, females could expect 67.7 years in good health, while males could expect 66.4 healthy years.

According to the report, women live longer and, therefore, accumulate more years in both good and poor health. But the percentage of life anticipated to be spent in good health is somewhat higher for males.

According to 2023 data, males were expected to spend about 83 per cent of their lives in good health, compared with 81 per cent for females, according to HALE estimates. By age 65, this gap persists, with men expected to spend 75 per cent of their remaining years in good health, compared with 71 per cent for women.

Healthy years still fall short of lifespan gains

The report shows that gains in HALE have not kept pace with gains in overall life expectancy, meaning that longer lives are not uniformly healthier lives.

In 2023, Canadians had an estimated HALE — or number of healthy years— of 66.9, a decline of nearly two years from 2019 and 2020, despite the fact that life expectancy in Canada is increasing.

At age 65, HALE remained relatively stable at about 15.3 years of expected healthy life.

The report suggests that while Canadians are living longer, a growing number of those years are lived with health limitations.

HALE varies widely across Canada

Health-adjusted life expectancy varies across Canada, with declines observed nationwide in recent years.

From 2019 to 2020, HALE at birth fell in most provinces, with the largest decreases in Alberta by 1.2 years and Manitoba by 0.6 years. New Brunswick’s HALE rose by 1.7 years and Nova Scotia’s by 0.9 years.

However, from 2020 to 2023, HALE at birth declined in all provinces, led by a sharp drop in New Brunswick by 4.1 years and the smallest decline in Alberta by 0.6 years.

Despite these declines, the report said, Quebec recorded the highest HALE at birth, reaching 70.4 years in 2023, while Newfoundland and Labrador had one of the lowest provincial values at 63 years.

Among the territories, Nunavut reported the lowest HALE at birth during the 2019-20 period.

At age 65, changes were smaller but followed similar regional patterns. From 2020 to 2023, HALE declined most in New Brunswick by 1.2 years and Newfoundland and Labrador by 1.1 years. Meanwhile, Quebec recorded an increase of 0.8 years and Alberta 0.6 years.

In 2023, Quebec had the highest HALE at age 65 sitting at 16 years compared to 13.4 years in Newfoundland and Labrador, the lowest among provinces.