How to access National Population Health Survey (NPHS) data

On-site access
Off-site access

On-site access

Research Data Centres Program

Research Data Centres provide researchers with approved projects access to the microdata from the NPHS. The centres, which also house microdata from other population and household surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, are situated in secure university settings across the country. For more information on the RDC program, visit: /rdc-cdr/index-eng.htm

Data Liberation Initiative (DLI)

As part of Statistics Canada’s learning resources, the DLI provides a wide range of data and metadata to participating post-secondary educational institutions, allowing their faculty and students unlimited access to numerous Statistics Canada public use microdata files (PUMFs), databases and geographic files. The cross-sectional PUMFs that were produced from each of the first three cycles of the NPHS are part of the DLI collection. For more information on the DLI program, visit: /dli-ild/dli-idd-eng.htm

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Off-site access

Remote access

In some instances where access to Research Data Centres is not feasible and the public use microdata files do not provide enough information for their project, researchers can apply for remote access to the NPHS data sets. Once their project is approved, researchers are provided with synthetic data from which they develop and test their computer programs (in SAS or SPSS), and then transmit them to the Population Health Surveys Data Access Unit (DAU) via a dedicated e-mail address. The programs are run on the secure data servers by DAU staff, who also vet the outputs for disclosure issues, and return the vetted outputs to the user via e-mail. Remote access to the NPHS data is offered free of charge, but is restricted to projects with demonstrated needs. For more information on remote access to the NPHS, contact the DAU staff at nphs-ensp@statcan.gc.ca.

Custom tabulations

Custom tabulations based on the NPHS are also available on a cost recovery basis. For more information, contact Health Statistics Division Client Services Unit at hd-ds@statcan.gc.ca.