Towards a Healthier Canada - Text Version

Important efforts are underway to help make social and physical environments where children, live, learn and play more supportive of physical activity and healthy eating. Measuring, monitoring and reporting on key indicators in these areas will assist governments (and other sectors) in gauging progress and informing future efforts.

Healthy Weights

Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term negative health outcomes, and is strongly linked to various chronic conditions, including type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.

• Almost 1 in 3 children and youth are overweight or obese
• 19.8% are overweight and 11.7% are obese

Physical Activity

Physical activity plays a fundamental role in healthy weights and healthy living, and helps to prevent chronic diseases.

• 54.9% of children exceed Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for screen time
• 4.4% of children are meeting current Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines
• 32.5% of children use active travel as their main form of transportation to school
• 49% of children get less than 3 hours per week of active play outside of school
• 7% of children take at least 12000 steps per day
• 2.3 hours - average number of hours per week that children take part in physical activity, outside of school, in lessons or league or team sports
• 9.7 min – average number of minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity obtained by children between 3 and 5 pm
  

Healthy Eating

The availability and accessibility of nutritious foods are necessary for healthy eating, an important factor in promoting healthy weights.

• 59% of children report eating breakfast on weekdays
• 45.5% of children eat fruit or vegetables at least 5 times per day
• 89.3% of new mothers begin breastfeeding at birth
• 24.1% of new mothers feed their babies only breast milk for the first six months
• 24% of children report drinking soft drinks, fruit drinks or sport drinks every day
  

Supportive Environments

Actions to support change must reach children where they live, learn and play. Many sectors at all levels play a role in building supportive social and physical environments.

• 75.3% of youth agree that it is safe for younger children to play outside during the day
• 10% of households, with at least one child under the age of 18, are considered food insecure
• 18% of parents cite safety concerns as a barrier to physical activity
• 93% of parents report that local public facilities and programs for physical activity and sports are available and meet the needs of their children
• 65% of parents report that local public facilities and programs for physical activity and meet the needs of their children
• 56.9% Children who obtain adequate sleep
• 37% of Canadian parents report playing active games with their children ‘often’ or ‘very often’
• 62.5% of schools have a committee that oversees policies and practices concerning physical activity or healthy eating
• 60.2% of schools have an improvement plan with items related to physical activity and/or healthy eating
• 2.6 hours Average number of hours per week of physical activity obtained by children during class time
  

For further information: Towards a Healthier Canada

Most recent data as of August 2013

The Pan-Canadian Public Health Network logo is located on the bottom, right-hand corner.