Yesterday Emily wrote an article looking at the countries with the highest projected life expectancy for 2011 as estimated by the CIA Fact Book. Guess what? USA didn’t even make the top 20 as the life expectancy is only 78.3. However Canada got a very good placing at number 12 on the list with a life expectancy of 81.38, not bad at all! Still it has a lot to live up to the number two spot which went to Macau at 84.41 and Monaco way way out in front with an average of 89.73, wow!

So what gives the Canadians an extra 3 years on their neighbours? The USA is supposed to be the greatest country in the world but of course it is vast in population and wealth with some of the richest people in the world and some of the poorest. Canada has historically been pretty good when it comes to it’s economy but of course it has a hardcore group of poor many of whom are native, of course that is a a whole other can of worms and I would expect they have a much lower life expectancy when singled out.

Canada does benefit from overall good quality social medicine and although it has some downsides (like steel faced nurses and angry doctors from my Quebec experiences!) the fact that if you break your leg it won’t bankrupt you is a real boost and I would imagine critical to helping people live longer and healthier lives.
From my experiences I wouldn’t say the Canadian diet shines of health like the many parts if Europe that make the list and obesity is reasonably high with Canada making somewhere between 8-12 depending on the list of most obese countries. Of course USA is number 1 on all those lists and UK normally flies high too!
Broken down the average male lives to 78.81 years and the average female: 84.1 years and the overall population is estimated to be 34,030,589, which isn’t that big and ranks 37 in the world rankings.
It’s pretty much impossible to say exactly why Canadians live to the age they do but the country has a reasonably sound economy and pretty small population as well as good social programs and although poverty is high for a small group it’s generally good compared to other countries. The beautiful surroundings and all year round activities such as mountain biking and skiing mean that it’s a good place to keep fit and many many Canadians are brought up with exercise and sport (namely Hockey) as a part of their lives.
Maybe get rid of the burgers and poutine in Quebec and apologise to the natives and start getting them looked after better and Canada could see a jump in their life expectancy to rival Monaco!
Source:frugalzeitgeist.com