The gap in life expectancy between men and women has narrowed again, according to new vital statistics data.

Life expectancy at birth, a key indicator of a population's health status, increased slightly to new record highs for both sexes in 2000. A woman born in 2000 could expect to live 82.0 years, up 0.3 years from 1999. A man's life expectancy at birth reached 76.7 years in 2000, up 0.5 years.

The gap in life expectancy between the sexes closed from 5.4 years in 1999 to 5.2 years in 2000, continuing a two-decade-long trend of narrowing. From 1979 to 2000, life expectancy for men improved by 5.4 years, whereas life expectancy for women advanced 3.2 years.

British Columbia had the highest life-expectancy rates for both sexes, as was the case for the last seven years for men and five of the last seven years for women. Men in British Columbia had a life expectancy of 78.2 years in 2000, up from 77.3 in 1999. Women could expect to live 82.9 years, up from 82.6.

A total of 218,062 people died in Canada in 2000, down 0.7% from 1999. This was the first year-over-year decrease in the number of deaths since 1981.

Of these, 111,742 were men, down 1.7% from 1999, and 106,320 were women, a slight 0.4% increase.

The decline in deaths, combined with an increase in Canada's population, resulted in a crude mortality rate of 7.1 deaths per 100,000 population in 2000, down 1.5% from 1999. This was the lowest rate since 1994.

Almost 35% of deaths in 2000 were due to diseases of the circulatory system (over 76,000 deaths); malignant neoplasms (cancers) accounted for 29% (62,600 deaths). Among diseases of the circulatory system, the most common causes of death were ischemic heart disease (19%) and cerebrovascular disease (7%).

One-half (50.1%) of cancer deaths were due to malignant neoplasms in one of four sites: lung, colorectal, breast (female and male), and prostate. Malignant neoplasms of the lung were the cause of over 16,000 deaths in 2000 and alone accounted for one in four deaths from malignant neoplasms.