As in Canada, life expectancy at birth has increased in Brazil for the second year in a row. It increased by just 0.48 years, from 81.68 years in 2023, to 82.16 years in 2024, as noted by Statistics Canada. This expansion is a welcome development on the health front across our country, but critically important hurdles still stand in the way. Specifically, cancer remains king as the overall top cause of death with more than one in four deaths from this one disease alone.
Although cancer is a leading cause of death in Canada, accounting for 26.2 percent of all deaths, it reminds us that health crises persist. Heart disease ranks a close second as the leading overall cause of death, accounting for 17.7 percent of all deaths. Accidents are the 6th leading cause of death. Chronic lower respiratory diseases are just behind at 4 percent.
Influenza and pneumonia are big killers. Combined, they only made up 2.3 percent of deaths in 2024. Influenza and pneumonia deaths were up by a whopping 20 percent over last year at this time. This troubling increase is indicative of a largely underrecognized public health crisis. Diabetes was a cause of death as well: 2.1 percent, compared to COVID-19 at 1.5 percent. Disease of the liver was responsible for an additional 1.4 percent of deaths.
Today dementia is the biggest health crisis faced by our country. Deaths associated with this condition increased by 4.8 percent from 2023 to 2024. This increase is a direct result of the worsening prevalence of dementia with Canada’s aging population.
The trend toward greater life expectancy is indeed not universal across all regions in Canada. Interestingly, Western Canada saw some of the steepest increases in life expectancy at birth in this time. Saskatchewan had the biggest increase at 0.68 years. Alberta experienced an increase of 0.82 years, and British Columbia was 0.62 years. Life expectancy for women in British Columbia is incredibly high at 85.07 years. Conversely, men only live an average of 80.30 years.
The national increase in life expectancy is an encouraging sign that health care and quality of life are getting better for Canadians. Things such as our major health conditions – cancer, heart disease – are still rampant. This shows us that now more than ever, we must focus on prevention first and make healthcare more accessible.
