STATISTICS CANADA: Leading causes of death for Canadians

STATISTICS CANADA: Leading causes of death for Canadians

Cancer and heart disease, the two leading causes of death for Canadians, were responsible for just over one-half (51%) of the 235,217 deaths in Canada in 2007.

Daths, and heart disease, 22%. Stroke, in third place, accounted for 6%. The proportion from cancer was up slightly from 2000, while the proportion from both heart disease and stroke declined.

Ranked in order, the other seven leading causes of death were chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease and suicide.

These 10 leading causes accounted for 77% of all deaths in 2007, down from 80% in 2000. The list has been identical since 2000, but the ranking has changed slightly. In 2000, suicide and kidney disease were ninth and tenth, respectively. By 2007, they had switched places.

Leading causes of death vary widely by age group

The leading causes of death varied widely by age group in 2007. Among young adults aged 15 to 34, accidents and suicide ranked first and second respectively, a trend observed since 2000.

Among individuals aged 35 to 74, cancer was the leading cause, while for those aged 85 and older, it was heart disease.

The proportion of deaths due to cancer reached its highest level for individuals aged 55 to 64, where it accounted for almost half (48%) of deaths.

In contrast, the proportion of deaths due to heart disease increased steadily as the population aged. It surpassed the proportion of deaths due to cancer at the age of 85 and older, where it accounted for 27% of deaths.

Men and women share six of top causes of death

In 2007, men and women shared 6 out of 10 leading causes of death.

The two top leading causes of death remained cancer and heart disease for both sexes. While stroke still ranked third for women in 2007, the third most common for men was accidents.

There were three times more suicides among men than among women and twice as many deaths caused by liver disease among men than women.

In 2007, women accounted for 7 out of every 10 deaths from Alzheimer’s disease.

Canada-US comparison

In 2007, cancer outranked heart disease as the most common cause of death in Canada. However, in the United States, the ranking of these causes was reversed.

In the United States, 23% of all deaths were attributed to cancer, compared with 30% in Canada. Conversely, 25% of all deaths were attributed to heart disease in the United States, compared with 22% in Canada. Stroke was the third-leading cause in both countries.

In Canada, suicide outranked homicide as a leading cause of death among young adults aged 15 to 24, where suicide and homicide ranked second and third respectively. In contrast, homicide was the second leading cause of death in young adults in the United States and suicide the third.

You can find more details at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/101130/dq101130b-eng.htm