Perceived health, 2014
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Perceived health is an indicator of overall health status. It can reflect aspects of health not captured in other measures, such as incipient disease, disease severity, physiological and psychological reserves as well as social and mental function. Perceived health refers to a person’s health in general — not only the absence of disease or injury, but also physical, mental and social well-being.
In 2014, 59.0% of Canadians aged 12 and older, roughly 17.8 million people, assessed their health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent,’ unchanged since 2011.
From 2001 to 2007 males were more likely than females to report very good or excellent health, but from 2008 to 2014 there has been no overall significant difference between the sexes (Chart 1).
The proportion of females reporting very good or excellent health decreased with age starting at age 35. For males, it decreased with age between ages 35 and 64 and then again after 74 years of age. Females had a higher rate of very good or excellent health compared to men only in the 55 to 64 age groups. For all other ages there was no significant difference between the sexes (Chart 2).
Body weight is an important factor in perceived health. Among Canadians aged 18 or older of normal weight, 66.7% reported very good or excellent health. This was significantly higher than all other weight classes, where 60.0% of underweight Canadians, 58.7% of overweight Canadians and 41.8% of obese Canadians reported very good or excellent health (Chart 3).Note 1
Research has shown that people who feel a sense of belonging to a local community tend to enjoy better physical and mental health.Note 2 In 2014, 63.6% of people who reported a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community also reported very good or excellent health, compared with 52.6% of those who felt weaker ties to their local community.
The proportion of residents who reported they were in very good or excellent health was lower than the national average (59.0%) in:
- New Brunswick (51.8%)
- Northwest Territories (50.6%)
- Nunavut (37.1%)
The proportion of residents who reported they were in very good or excellent health was higher than the national average in Alberta (62.6%).
Residents of the other provinces and Yukon reported rates that were about the same as the national average.
Because of the strong relationship between age and perceived health, provinces and territories with disproportionately younger populations are expected to have perceived health rates above the national average. The reverse is true for provinces and territories with older populations. To remove the effect of different age distributions when making provincial comparisons, please refer to the CANSIM table 105-0503 for age standardized rates.
Notes
Reference
Ross, Nancy. 2002. “Community Belonging and Health.” Health Reports. Vol. 13, no. 3. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-003. page 35. /studies-etudes/82-003/archive/2002/6105-eng.pdf.
Data
Additional data from the Canadian Community Health Survey are available from CANSIM tables 105–0501 and 105-0503.
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