Last updated 2023.04.27
Unless specified, sources listed below are publications of Statistics Canada.
- Statistic Canada's health statistics portal
Statistic Canada's one-stop shop to find data, tools, and reports from the government on the latest information on health statistics.
- Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR)
The Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) is a population-based registry that includes data collected and reported to Statistics Canada by each provincial/territorial cancer registry. The person-based CCR collects information about each new primary cancer diagnosed among Canadian residents since 1992. The objective is to produce standardized and comparable incidence data that can be used to assist and support health planners and decision-makers to: identify risk factors; plan, monitor and evaluate cancer screening, treatment and control programs; and conduct research.
- Canadian Cancer Statistics (Canadian Cancer Society)
- Canadian Community Health Survey
"The public use microdata file from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) provides data for health regions combined health regions across Canada. It includes information on a wide range of topics, including alcohol consumption, chronic health conditions, fruit and vegetable consumption, general health, use of health services, height and weight, injuries, physical activity, restriction of activities and smoking. It also provides information on the socio-demographic characteristics, the income and the labour force characteristics of the population. Data were collected from over 130,000 respondents, aged 12 or older, residing in households across all provinces and territories."
- Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
Provides essential statistics and analysis about the health and health care system of Canadians. CIHI provides a range of free, aggregate-level data; more comprehensive data may be available in published reports.
- Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) Reports
The CSD is a national survey of Canadians aged 15 and over whose everyday activities are limited because of a long-term condition or health-related problem. The CSD provides estimates of persons reporting a disability by type in Canada. It collected essential information on supports for persons with disabilities, as well as on their employment profile, income and participation in society. The survey population comprised all Canadians aged 15 or older as of May 10, 2011 who were living in private dwellings. As the institutionalized population is excluded, the data, particularly for the older age groups, should be interpreted accordingly. Data tables and fact sheets on a variety of disability types are included.
- Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS) (2013-present)
The overall objective of CTADS is to provide continual and reliable data on tobacco, alcohol and drug use and related issues, with the primary focus on 15 to 24 year olds. The major objectives of the survey are to: measure the frequency of cigarette smoking, measure the amount smoked, gain insight into behaviors related to smoking, measure the prevalence and frequency of alcohol use, measure the prevalence of drug use and the extent of harm related to usage. Supersedes the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS)
- Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) (1999-2012)
The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) has been conducted for Health Canada since 1999, and provides data on tobacco use and related issues.The survey tracks changes in smoking status, especially for populations most at risk such as the 15- to 24-year-olds. It allows Health Canada to estimate smoking prevalence by province-sex-age group, for age groups 15 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 and over. Since 1999, two CTUMS files have been released every year: a file with data collected from February to June and a file with the July to December data. Additionally, there has also been a yearly summary. This process was changed for the 2011 release. There is now only an annual file released each year. Superseded by the Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS)
- Data tables on health
Time-series data on
- Causes of death data tables
- Discharge Abstract Database (2009-2012)
The Discharge Abstract Database captures administrative, clinical, and demographic information on hospital discharges. Two files are available: Clinical Detail and Geographic Detail. These files contain a 10% sampling of persons from the database.
- The Clinical Detail File includes inpatient data from all acute care institutions in Canada (excluding stillbirths and cadaveric donor cases). Data includes diagnosis, interventions, special care, length of stay, newborn weights, and gestation weeks at delivery.
- The Geographic Detail File includes inpatient data from all acute care institutions in Canada (excluding stillbirths and cadaveric donor cases). Data includes Health Region, case mix variables, and length of stay.
- Common data elements in the Clinical Detail and Geographic Detail Files are person identifier, facility province (territories are combined), discharge day, admission day, gender, and age group.
- You must read and accept the terms of the license agreement before you can obtain the data and documentation.
- Microdata files via <odesi>
- Economic Burden of Illness in Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada)
"The Economic Burden of Illness in Canada (EBIC) provides objective and comparable information on the magnitude of the cost of illness and injury in Canada based on standard reporting units and methods. These data can be used in further economic analyses and economic evaluations, and along with other health indicators, provide an important piece of the evidence required for health policy and planning." Reports are also available for 1986, 1993, and 1998 (PDF). Separate reports available for .
- Cost of injury in Canada
Every year, injury takes a staggering toll on children, seniors, families, and communities across the country. New data from The Cost of Injury in Canada Report quantifies the financial and societal burden on our citizens, our health care system and the Canadian economy.
- General social surveys(microdata files)
- Health of Canadians living in census metropolitan areas
"This report examines the health of residents of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) through measures such as life expectancy, self-rated health, smoking, heavy drinking, obesity, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, life stress, depression, self-perceived unmet health care needs and number of general physicians and family practitioners per 100,000 population."
- Health care in Canada (Canadian Institute for Health Information)
"Provides up-to-date information on what we know and don't know about the performance of Canada's health care system".
- Health fact sheets
Includes short, focused, single-theme analysis documents on: Health conditions, lifestyle, well-being, disability, prevention and detection of disease, deaths, pregnancy and birth, health care services and environmental factors.
- Health indicators
" Health indicators is a data product produced by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information. It provides a set of indicators which measure the health of the Canadian population and the health care system. Health indicators are designed to provide comparable information at the health region and provincial/territorial level, and are based on standard definitions and methods. These indicators are organized into four categories: health status (including health conditions, mortality rates, measures of well-being); non-medical determinants of health (socio-economic characteristics and health behaviour); health system performance (measures of accessibility, appropriateness, effectiveness of health care services); and, community and health system characteristics (contextual information). Health indicators contains data tables with rates for a variety of indicators broken down by sex and by health region. Provincial and national rates are also provided within each table. These data are produced from a wide range of sources and are the most recent available. Technical notes and definitions present information necessary to interpret these indicators. "
- Health Indicator maps
This publication presents a series of thematic maps, including those showing the subprovincial variations for selected health indicators based on the latest data available from different data sources. Reference maps showing the boundaries of health regions in Canada are also available by province.
- Health reports
Health reports is a quarterly journal that publishes articles of wide interest that contain original and timely analyses of health and vital statistics data. The sources of data are typically national or provincial/territorial administrative data bases or surveys. Reports are descriptive articles, frequently based on newly released statistical publications or products.
- Injuries in Canada: Insights from the Canadian Community Health Survey
This article is an overview of injuries featuring results from the 2009-2010 Canadian Community Health Survey. With a focus on broad age groups, it explores various aspects of this topic such as who gets injured, main causes, and types of injuries.
- National Health Expenditure Trends (CIHI)
"This publication includes updated expenditure data by source of funds (sector) and use of funds (category) at the provincial/territorial level and for Canada. It also contains an overview with discussion on the trends of health care spending in Canada. International comparisons such as health spending to GDP ratio are included, as well as a comprehensive set of data tables and technical notes."
- National Population Health Survey (NPHS)
Content is related to health status, use of health services, determinants of health and a range of demographic and economic information. For example, the health status information includes self-perception of health, a health status index, chronic conditions, and activity restrictions. The use of health services is probed through visits to health care providers, both traditional and non-traditional, and the use of drugs and other medications. Health determinants include smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and a special focus in the second cycle of the survey was access to services with questions on preventative tests and examinations probing for frequency, reasons for use or non-use and barriers encountered. The demographic and economic information includes age, sex, education, ethnicity, household income and labour force status. Available for 1994-1995, 1996-1997 and 1998-1999.
- Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
PALS is Canada's national survey that gathers information about adults and children whose daily activities are limited by a physical, mental, or other health-related condition or problem. The reports in this series document disability rates, demographic distribution, type and severity of the activity limitation, specialized equipment or aids, support required to complete everyday tasks, barriers and accommodation to employment, education, housing, transportation, leisure and impact of activity limitations on children and their families.
- Statistical report on the health of Canadians
A comprehensive and detailed statistical overview of the health status of Canadians and the major determinants of that status. The data identify populations at risk; suggest associations between health determinants, health status, and population characteristics; raise questions about the reasons for the widespread differences among the provinces and territories; and illustrate areas where Canada's health information system is robust, and others where it is relatively weak. These themes are developed more fully in Health Canada's companion publication Toward a Healthy Future: Second Report on the Health of Canadians
- Suicide Mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces (1995 to 2014) (Department of National Defence)
This report describes crude suicide rates from 1995 to 2014, comparisons between the Canadian population and the CAF using standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), and suicide rates by deployment history using SMRs and direct standardization. It also examines variation in suicide rate by Command and, using data from the Medical Professional Technical Suicide Reviews (MPTSR), looks at the prevalence of other suicide risk factors in suicides which occurred in 2014.
- Vital Statistics - Birth Database
This is an administrative survey that collects demographic information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all live births in Canada.
- Vital Statistics - Death Database
This is an administrative survey that collects demographic and medical (cause of death) information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all deaths in Canada.
- Vital Statistics - Stillbirth Database
This is an administrative survey that collects demographic information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all stillbirths (fetal deaths) in Canada.
- Waiting times
- Data tables on waiting times (2001-present)
- Wait Times in Canada -- a comparison by province (Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) 2007-present)
"In 2004, Canada's first ministers agreed to reduce wait times in five priority areas: cancer treatment, cardiac care, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration. They also agreed to work towards meeting evidence-based benchmarks -- or targets -- for medically acceptable waits, which were established in late 2005 for some priority procedures. CIHI was mandated to collect wait times information and monitor provincial progress in meeting benchmarks."
