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Mortality: Summary list of causes of death, 2006

1. In 2006, 30.1% of all deaths in Canada were caused by major cardiovascular diseases and 29.7% by cancer (malignant neoplasms). These two causes of death alone accounted for 59.9% of all deaths, a proportion that has been declining in recent decades, from nearly 70% in the early 1980s.
2. Deaths due to cancer are continuing a long-term upward trend, reaching 67,807 in 2006. In contrast, deaths due to major cardiovascular diseases continue to decline, down to 68,715 in 2006. However, for both of these causes of death, the age-standardized mortality rate, which eliminates the impact of an aging population, fell between 2005 and 2006. It went from 170.3 to 166.5 deaths for a standard population of 100,000 people for cancer and from 167.4 to 155.6 for major cardiovascular diseases.
3. In 2006, the age-standardized mortality rate for cancer among men (201.8 per 100,000) exceeded for the first time that of major cardiovascular diseases (197.9 per 100,000), while for women, a similar situation already occurred in 2003.
4. At the provincial and territorial level, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan experienced the lowest age-standardized mortality rates for cancer in the country.
5. In Quebec, British Columbia and Nunavut, age-standardized mortality rates for major cardiovascular diseases were lower than the Canadian rate.