Canada's Life Expectancy Is Now Lower Thanks To The Pandemic
Some provinces got hit harder than others.
Statistics Canada released a report on June 1 that showed how Canada's life expectancy has been impacted by COVID-19. In 2020, more than 15,600 people died due to the pandemic, the agency says.
As a result, there has been an estimated life expectancy reduction of 0.41 years for Canadians, equating to about five months. In 2019, the life expectancy for the country was 82.1 years, according to Statistics Canada.
While life expectancy is normally expected to increase over time, events that cause a significant number of deaths can bump that number down. Another example of this happened in 2017 when the opioid crisis reduced life expectancy at birth by 0.07 years, or about 0.8 months.
According to the study, different parts of Canada have been affected more than others. For example, Quebec's life expectancy was found to have decreased the most following the pandemic, with a dip of nearly 10 months for both males and females.
Meanwhile, Alberta only saw a decrease of 0.32 years, or about four months.