Data quality, concepts and methodology: Explanatory notes for the tables

View the most recent version.

Table 1 Deaths by sex and geography

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence and on the place of occurrence.
3. The category "Unknown province or territory" refers to deaths of residents of Canada with province or territory of residence unknown.

Table 2 Deaths by geography

Month

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

In hospital and elsewhere

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. In Quebec, deaths in residential and long-term care centres are included in "hospital" category.
3. The category "Place of death, non-hospital" includes deaths that occurred in private homes, in health care institutions such as nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, nursing stations and other short-term care facilities and other health care facilities not licensed to operate as hospitals by provincial, territorial or federal governments and at other specified sites.
4. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Subject to autopsy

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 3 Deaths by single year of age and geography

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 4 Deaths by age group and geography

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 5 Deaths by marital status, age group and geography

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. Marital status refers to the legal conjugal status of the deceased at the time of death. Persons in common-law relationships are categorized by their legal marital status. A single person is one who has never been married, or a person whose marriage has been annulled and who has not remarried. A separated person is legally married but is not living with his or her spouse because the couple no longer wants to live together. A divorced person is one who has obtained a legal divorce and has not remarried. A married person is one who is legally married and not separated. A person whose spouse has died and who has not remarried is widowed.
3. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 6 Infant mortality by age group

and sex, Canada

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. Infant death is the death of a child under one year of age.
3. Neonatal death is the death of a child under 4 weeks of age (0 to 27 days).
4. Post-neonatal death is the death of a child under one year of age but at least 28 days old (28 to 364 days).
5. Live birth is the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception which, regardless of the duration of pregnancy, subsequently breathes or shows any other evidence of life.

and geography

1. Mortality rate calculations in this table use live births in the calendar year instead of the Demography Division's under one year of age population estimate (Appendix 1).
2. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
3. Age, in the case of infant deaths, corresponds to the completed number of months (or minutes, hours, or days) since birth.
4. Infant death is the death of a child under one year of age.
5. Infant death rate is the number of infant deaths during a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.
6. Neonatal death is the death of a child under 4 weeks of age (0 to 27 days).
7. Neonatal mortality rate is the number of neonatal deaths during a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.
8. Post-neonatal death is the death of a child under one year of age but at least 28 days old (28 to 364 days).
9. Post-neonatal mortality rate is the number of post-neonatal deaths during a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.
10. The mortality rate represents the number of deaths in a particular age group during a given year per 1,000 live births in the same calendar year.
11. Live birth is the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception which, regardless of the duration of pregnancy, subsequently breathes or shows any other evidence of life.
12. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 7 Perinatal mortality and components by geography

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. Live birth is the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception which, regardless of the duration of pregnancy, subsequently breathes or shows any other evidence of life.
3. Stillbirth corresponds to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, which did not at any time after birth breathe or show any other sign of life.
4. Most provinces and the three territories require a stillbirth with a gestational age of 20 weeks or more or a birth weight of at least 500 grams to be registered. In Quebec (as well as in Saskatchewan prior to 2001 and in New Brunswick prior to November 1996), only fetal deaths (stillbirths) weighing 500 or more grams must be reported, regardless of the gestational period. Until 1997, only stillbirths with gestational periods of 20 weeks or more were required to be registered in Prince Edward Island, regardless of birth weight.
5. Stillbirth data are tabulated according to the mother's usual place of residence.
6. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence.

Table 8 Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 - abridged life table by sex and geography

1. Life expectancy is the number of years a person would be expected to live, starting at birth (for life expectancy at birth) or at age 65 (for life expectancy at age 65) if the age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given observation period (such as a calendar year) were held constant over the estimated life span.
2. Life expectancy is calculated by Greville's method for abridged life tables, using annual mortality rates with five-year age groupings of population and mortality rates. See "Life Tables, Canada, provinces and territories, 1995-1997" (catalogue number 84-537-XIE) for a complete explanation of the methodology used to produce abridged life tables.
3. Rates used in this table for the calculation of life expectancy are calculated with data that exclude: births to mothers not resident in Canada, births to mothers resident in Canada, province or territory of residence unknown, deaths of non-residents of Canada, deaths of residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown and deaths for which age or sex of decedent was unknown.
4. Rates used in this table for the calculation of life expectancy are based on data tabulated by place of residence.
5. Starting in 2005, life expectancy is calculated using a 3-year average of age-specific mortality rates.
6. The "Territories" include Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Table 9 Deaths, by place of residence and place of occurrence

1. Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after a live birth has taken place. Stillbirths are excluded.
2. The geographic distribution of deaths in this table is based on the deceased's usual place of residence and on the place of occurrence.
3. The category "Unknown province or territory" refers to deaths of residents of Canada with province or territory of residence unknown.
4. The category "Unknown place of residence" refers to deaths of residents or non-residents of Canada with place of residence unknown.

Previous