Life-expectancy - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Life expectancy

Alternate Name

Life expectancy at birth

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the number of years a person would be expected to live, starting at birth (for life expectancy at birth if the age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given observation period (such as a calendar year) were held constant over his/her life span. A higher result is better.

Indicator Status

Active

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Effective

Type

Outcome

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Years

Calculation Methods

This indicator is calculated as: the numerator divided by the denominator

Age- and sex-specific mortality rates corresponding to the reference period are applied to a hypothetical cohort, typically of 100,000. Starting at birth, the probability of dying at each age or age interval is applied to the number of people surviving to that age or the beginning of the age interval, respectively.

Numerator including inclusion/exclusion

Cumulative number of person-years lived, for a cohort of 100,000 persons

Denominator including inclusion/exclusion

Number of persons in an initial cohort of 100,000 live births

Exclusions:

Births to mothers who are not residents of Canada
Births to mothers who are residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown
Deaths of non-residents of Canada
Deaths of residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown
Deaths for which age or sex of the decedent was unknown

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- detailed

None

Data Source

Vital Statistics, Birth and Death Databases

Data provided to HQO by

Statistics Canada

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

International comparison, Region, Sex, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

This indicator does not provide information on the individual causes of deaths or on quality of life.

Comments Detailed

1 Life expectancy and other elements of the life table, Canada, all provinces except Prince Edward Island, three-year average, Statistic Canada Table 13-10-0114-01 2 Life expectancy and other elements of the life table, Prince Edward Island and the territories, three-year average, Statistic Canada Table 13-10-0140-01 3. Life expectancy, at birth and at age 65, by sex, three-year average, Canada, provinces, territories, health regions and peer groups, Statistic Canada Table: 13-10-0063-01 (formerly CANSIM 102-4308) 4. For international comparisons, data is provided from OECD (2018), Life expectancy at birth (indicator). doi: 10.1787/27e0fc9d-en (Accessed on 22 March 2018)