Nunavummiut born now will live longer: StatCan

The life expectancy for Nunavut residents born in 2017 is 72 years, according to a new report by Statistics Canada.

That’s an increase in life expectancy at birth by about two years since 2013.

Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan also saw similar increases in 2016-2017, StatCan reported Sept. 5.

Life expectancy increases when there are fewer deaths in general, or when deaths tend to occur at older ages, or a combination of both.

But, despite the increase, Nunavut’s life expectancy at birth remains the lowest in Canada at an average of 72.1 years for men and women.

That’s close to the average life expectancy of the global population in 2016—72 years—and similar to that found in developing countries, like Moldova or Vanuatu, according to World Health Organization numbers.

In Nunavut, women born in 2017 can now expect to live for 73.4 years, about as long as women in El Salvador.

For Nunavut men, the life expectancy is lower, 70.8 years, about the same as in Bolivia or North Korea.

On average, women in Canada can expect to live for 84 years and men for 79.9 years, if they were to experience the mortality patterns observed in 2017 throughout their lives, StatCan said.

But life expectancy at birth did not increase in Canada from 2016 to 2017 for either men or women nationally, a first in more than 40 years. This was “largely attributable to the opioid crisis,” StatCan said.

For Nunavut, not all news was good. Among the causes of death, cancer was up and the mortality of preventable deaths, such as accidents, had doubled from the previous two-year cycle, ending in 2015.