Area-level measure of the population with less than high school education in Canada, 2016
Released: 2023-05-08
A growing body of research is showing an association between low levels of education and poor health outcomes, including increased risk of premature death. Investigating this relationship is limited due to a lack of sociodemographic information in administrative data in Canada, including death records. To fill this data gap, Statistics Canada is releasing a new area-level measure of the population with less than high school education using the 2016 Census of Population data. This measure can be integrated with administrative records and survey data to understand inequalities associated with a low level of education in Canada.
This measure ranks Canadian census dissemination areas into five equal-sized groups (quintiles) based on the age-standardized proportion of the population aged 20 years and over in private households whose highest level of educational attainment was less than high school in 2016. The first quintile represents areas having the lowest proportion of the population with less than a high school education, whereas the fifth quintile represents areas having the highest proportion of the population with less than a high school education.
To demonstrate how the area-level education quintiles can be used in health inequality analysis, potentially avoidable age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) were calculated by quintiles and sex for Canada using the Canadian Vital Statistics – Death Database (2017 to 2019). Differences in ASMR between quintiles could be explained by other factors not included in the analysis, such as geography, income, occupation, etc. Therefore, results should be interpreted with caution.
Potentially avoidable mortality refers to premature deaths taking place under the age of 75 that could have been avoided through prevention practices (e.g., lifestyle modifications, vaccinations, injury prevention, etc.), public health policies (e.g., regulations, actions and decisions implemented to promote public health) or timely and effective health care (Health Indicators, 2012).
Potentially avoidable mortality rates were more than two times higher in areas having the highest proportion of the population with less than a high school education
Potentially avoidable mortality rates were unevenly distributed across the less than high school education quintiles in Canada. In areas with the highest proportion of population with less than a high school education (quintile 5), the avoidable mortality rate was more than double (2.1 times) the rate observed in areas with the lowest proportion of population with less than a high school education (quintile 1).
Although the potentially avoidable mortality rates among men were higher than among women for all quintiles, there was a clear gradient of increasing rates of avoidable mortality with higher proportions of both men and women with less than high school education. Among men, the ASMR was 379 deaths per 100,000 population in quintile 5 (lowest education quintile) compared with 178 deaths per 100,000 population in quintile 1 (highest education quintile). Among women, the ASMR was 225 deaths per 100,000 population in quintile 5 compared with 110 deaths per 100,000 population in quintile 1 (Chart 1).
Chart 1
Age-standardized potentially avoidable mortality rates by area-level measure of the population with less than high school education quintile and sex, Canada (excluding Yukon), three-year average, 2017 to 2019
Note to readers
The area-level measure of the population with less than high school education was created using age-standardized proportion of population aged 20 years and over in private households within each dissemination area who have reported having an education level less than a secondary (high) school diploma or equivalency certificate in 2016.
A dissemination area is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more adjacent dissemination blocks with an average population of 400 to 700 persons based on data from the previous Census of Population Program. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are disseminated. Dissemination areas with population less than 40 are excluded from the analysis for data quality issues.
The Canadian Vital Statistics – Death Database data for 2017 to 2019 were integrated with the area-level measure of the population with less than high education using Postal CodeOM Conversion File Plus (PCCF+) to calculate the potentially avoidable mortality rate per 100,000 population. A small number of deaths with missing residential postal code information were not linked with PCCF+. Deaths of non-residents of Canada, deaths of residents of Canada whose province or territory of residence was unknown, and deaths for which the age of the decedent was unknown were excluded from the analysis. Death data for Yukon are not available as of 2017. Therefore, they were excluded from the analysis.
Due to improvements in methodology and timeliness of data collection, the duration of data collection has been shortened compared with previous years. As a result, there may have been fewer deaths captured by the time of the release. Therefore, the numbers and rates for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 reference years are based on the revised preliminary data released on January 24, 2022.
Age-standardized mortality rates presented in this Daily are based on three consecutive years of death data (2017 to 2019) averaged. Rates are per 100,000 population. Age-standardized mortality rates account for the differences in the age structure of the populations being compared. The direct standardization method was used to age standardize all rates to the 2016 Census with five-year age groupings.
The area-level measure of the population with less than high school education data includes quintile values as well as continuous scores for all Census dissemination areas. Data and documentation are available upon request from the Social Determinants of Health Section of the Centre for Health Data Integration at Statistics Canada (hd-ds@statcan.gc.ca).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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