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Leading Causes of Death in Canada, 2009
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Ranking causes of death is an informative way to present mortality statistics, supplementing other measures of mortality such as death rates and life table. The methodology used in this publication to select the leading causes of death was developed by the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.1
- In 2009, the 10 leading causes of death accounted for 182,139 deaths and represented 76% of all deaths in Canada.
- The ranking of the 10 leading causes of death were the same for 2000 and 2009. However, the relative burden of the 10 leading causes of death has decreased from 80% of all deaths in 2000 to 76% in 2009.
- Cancer, the leading cause of death, was responsible for 71,125 deaths in 2009, accounting for 30% of all deaths in Canada, the same proportion as the previous year.
- Heart disease ranked second with 21% of all deaths, followed by stroke with 6%.
- From 2000 to 2009, deaths caused by cancer increased by 13.5%, while total deaths increased by 9.3%.
- During the nine-year period between 2000 and 2009, only 2 out of 10 leading causes of death showed a decline in the number of deaths: heart disease (-10.5%) and stroke (-9.4%).
- From 2000 to 2009, Alzheimer's disease had the largest relative increase (25.4%) in the number of deaths followed by accidents (unintentional injuries) (19.3%).
Table 1
Ranking and number of deaths for the 10 leading causes of death, Canada, 2000 and 2009
Sex differences
- In 2009, males and females shared 9 out of 10 leading causes of death. However, only three leading causes of death had the same ranking: cancer (1st), heart disease (2nd), and influenza and pneumonia (8th).
- Accidents (unintentional injuries) was the third leading cause of death for males and the sixth leading cause for females.
- Suicide was the seventh leading cause of death for males and the thirteenth for females.
- Alzheimer's disease ranked as the fifth leading cause of death for females and the ninth for males.
Table 2
Ranking and number of deaths for the 10 leading causes of death by sex, Canada, 2009
Age patterns
Cancer
- Cancer was the leading cause of death for people aged 35 to 84. It was the second leading cause of death for those aged 1 to 14 and 85 and older and the third leading cause for those aged 15 to 34.
- For the first time, cancer surpassed accidents (unintentional injuries) as the leading cause of death for young girls aged 1 to 14.
- Cancer was the leading cause of death for females aged 25 to 84 and for males aged 45 to 84.
Heart disease
- Heart disease was the leading cause of death for those aged 85 and older and the second leading cause of death for those aged 45 to 84.
- The ranking of the heart disease by age groups for males and for females were the same ranking as the both sexes combined.
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
- For young people aged 1 to 34, accidents was the leading cause of death, the second leading cause for those aged 35 to 44 and the third for people aged 45 to 64.
- Accidents was the leading cause of death for males aged 1 to 44 and the third leading cause for males aged 45 to 64.
- Accidents was the leading cause of death for females aged 15 to 24, the second leading cause for females aged 1 to 14 and 25 to 44, and the third for females aged 45 to 54.
Suicide
- Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 34, the third and the fourth leading cause for those aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 respectively.
- Suicide was the second leading cause of death for males aged 15 to 44 and females aged 15 to 24.
- For females aged 25 to 44, suicide was the third leading cause of death.
Table 3
Ranking and number of deaths for the 10 leading causes of death by age group, Canada, 2009
Regional differences
- Cancer was the leading cause of death in all Canadian provinces and territories since 2008.
- In 2009 as in 2008, heart disease was the second leading cause of death in all provinces and territories, except for Nunavut, where suicide ranked second. In the Yukon, accidents tied with heart disease as the second leading cause of death.
- Stroke was the third leading cause of death in all provinces except Quebec, where chronic lower respiratory diseases ranked third. Accidents was the third leading cause of death for Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in five provinces and all three territories. Chronic lower respiratory diseases and heart disease tied as the fourth leading cause of death in Nunavut.
- Accidents was the fourth leading cause of death in four provinces.
- Accidents or chronic lower respiratory diseases was the fifth leading cause of death in all provinces, except for Newfoundland and Labrador (diabetes) and Quebec (Alzheimer's disease).
- In the territories, the fifth leading cause of death was stroke for Yukon and conditions originating in the perinatal period for Northwest Territories.
Age-standardized mortality rates
- To remove the impact of differences in the age structure of populations among areas and over time, comparisons are made using the "age-standardized mortality rate."
- The age-standardized mortality rate declined from 616 per 100,000 population in 2000 to 515 per 100,000 population in 2009, a reduction of 16%.
- From 2000 to 2009, the age-standardized mortality rates decreased for all 10 leading causes of death. The standardized mortality rates for heart disease and for stroke were both reduced by 33%, the largest relative decrease amongst the 10 leading causes of death.
- During the period from 2000 to 2009, accidents and suicide showed the smallest decrease in age-standardized mortality rates (5% and 6% respectively).
Table 7
Age-standardized mortality rates for the 10 leading causes of death, Canada, 2000 and 2009
Comparison between Canada and the United States
- In both countries, Canada and the United States, three quarters of all deaths were attributed to the 10 leading causes of death in 2009.
- Canada and the United States shared the same 10 leading causes of death in 2009, although their rankings were not the same. The most noticeable difference between the two countries was the ranking of cancer and heart disease.
- Cancer led heart disease as the most common cause of death in Canada in 2009, while in the United States heart disease led cancer. In Canada, 30% of all deaths were attributed to cancer, compared with 23% in the United States. Conversely, 21% of all deaths in Canada were attributed to heart disease, compared with 25% in the United States.
- Stroke was the third leading cause of death in Canada while chronic lower respiratory diseases ranked third for the United States.
Footnotes
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