Date Published: 21 May 2009

Greater Life Expectancy, Reduced Smoking Rates

Health Canada today officially released the report, which builds on past reports by providing Canadians with improved and updated information on issues such as timely access to and quality of health care.

"Healthy Canadians is a measure of the health of our citizens and our health-care system," said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. "This report shows high Canadian satisfaction with health-care services and progress in a number of areas, including life expectancy and reduced smoking rates among teenagers."

Highlights of the report include:

• Most Canadians remain satisfied overall with health care services.
• Life expectancy continues to improve for both Canadian women and men.
• Teenage smoking has dropped to 12%, a six percentage point decrease among Canadians aged 12 to 19 since 2000.
• Fewer Canadians (61.1%) aged 12 years and older reported that their health was "excellent" or "very good," compared to 62.5% in 2000-2001.

Health Canada is committed to increased accountability and better reporting to Canadians about the status of health care. The Department has more than doubled the number of indicators - measures reflecting the health of Canadians and the health system - in this report from 18 to 37 to provide Canadians with more relevant, useful and effective information. This information also allows the federal government to track changes over time, make international comparisons, and identify potential areas where improvements may be required.

Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information both provided important contributions to the production of this report.

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