Social inequalities in COVID-19 deaths in Canada

COVID-19 mortality data tool

This data tool is a product of the Pan-Canadian Health Inequalities Reporting (HIR) Initiative, which is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in collaboration with:

• Pan-Canadian Public Health Network
• Statistics Canada
• Canadian Institute for Health Information

You can use the COVID-19 mortality data tool to visualize data on COVID-19 deaths between January 2020 and March 2021. It uses using several key social determinants of health, such as sex, income and neighbourhood characteristics.

For more information on the interpretation of the data please refer to the technical report. For more information on the data sources and limitations, please refer to the following notes, the technical notes and the discussion of limitations in the Conclusion section of the technical report.

You can use the online interactive Health Inequalities Data Tool to access other data from the HIR Initiative, which represents over 100 indicators of inequalities in health status, health behaviours and health determinants.

Suggested citation: Public Health Agency of Canada, 2022. COVID-19 Mortality Data Tool. Pan-Canadian Health Inequalities Reporting Initiative.

Acknowledgements: The development of this data tool was made possible through collaboration of PHAC, the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network (PHN), and Statistics Canada.

Notes:

• Numerators: Deaths were those for which coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified as the underlying cause of death in the provisional death data. Two ICD-10 codes were used to identify when COVID-19 was reported as a cause of death: U071 for COVID-19 specified as confirmed by a positive test result, and U072 for COVID-19 described as “possible,” “probable,” or “pending a (positive) test result.” Deaths are reported for province of residence.
• Denominators: The Canadian population based on 2016 Census.
• Mortality rates were age-standardized to the 2011 Canadian population, using 5-year age groups.
• The COVID-19 data presented are provisional, as they are not based on all deaths that occurred during the reference period because of reporting delays.
• National-level data do not include Yukon due to unavailability of mortality data from Yukon after 2017.
• Data source for individual-level characteristics (household size, household type, dwelling type, low-income status): Provisional Vital Statistics-Deaths Database (January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021), linked to 2016 short-form Census.
• Data source for area-level characteristics (ethno-cultural composition quintile, income quintile, Census Metropolitan Area residence): Preliminary Vital Statistics - Deaths Database (January 1 to December 31, 2020) linked with 2016 Census Area Profile data (in the PCCF+ file).
• Deaths reported for individual-level characteristics occurred among residents of private dwellings. Deaths occurring among residents of collective dwellings, such as long-term care homes, are not included in these data. Deaths reported for area-level characteristics include deaths occurring in Canada of residents and non-residents, as well as deaths in long-term care homes.
• For more information on the data sources and limitations, please refer to the technical notes.