Overall
By Income Group
Technical Notes
Overall
Health-adjusted life expectancy at birth describes the average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to live in good health if the current death rates and patterns of health conditions continue. It takes into account both the length and quality of life.
For the years 2013 to 2014, Simcoe Muskoka males lived an average of 80.1 years (79.7, 80.5) with 86.4% of those years spent in good health. In other words, the average Simcoe Muskoka male could expect to enjoy 69 years spent in good health (health-adjusted life expectancy: 69.2 years, (68.2, 70.2)). This is similar to the provincial health-adjusted life expectancy of males at 80.7 years (80.6, 80.7), and health-adjusted life expectancy of 70.6 years (70.2, 71.0).
In the same time period, females had longer life expectancy and a higher health-adjusted life expectancy. For 2013 to 2014, Simcoe Muskoka females lived three years longer than males, an average of 83.5 years (83.1, 83.9), with 84.3% of those years in good health. This represents a health-adjusted life expectancy of 70.4 years (69.4, 71.5). This is significantly lower than the provincial life expectancy of 85.0 years (84.9, 85.1), with a health-adjusted life expectancy of 72.3 years (71.8, 72.8).
In Ontario, there is an almost nine year age gap in health-adjusted life expectancy for women and an eight year gap for men born in the highest and lowest income groups.
For 2015 to 2017, Ontario females in the highest income group had a health-adjusted life expectancy of 74.9 (74.0, 75.8), significantly higher than those in the lowest income group with 66.1 years (64.9, 67.3).
In Ontario males, those born in the highest income groups had a health-adjusted life-expectancy at birth of 72.7 years (71.6, 73.9), significantly higher than those in the lowest income groups with 64.3 years (63.4, 65.2).
This is based on 2015 to 2017 data for the whole province of Ontario as this is the most recent data available to describe health-adjusted life expectancy. There was not enough data to precisely estimate the burden of ill health at the Simcoe Muskoka regional level by age, sex, and income group. However, it can reasonably be assumed that a similar trend in health-adjusted life expectancy among income groups exists.
Technical Notes
In this article, quality of life is measured using the Health Utilities Index from the Canadian Community Health Survey. The health utilities index is a summary measure of functional health based on a series of questions on ability and disability.
Page Last Modified: February 5, 2020.