Province of Manitoba » Aboriginal and Northern Affairs » News & Publications » Publications » Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 » Chapter 2 : Health » Mortality

Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 2 : Health

Life expectancy of Aboriginal people nationally continues to lag behind the population at large by 8 years for males and 6.7 years for females. This gap varies widely among Aboriginal groups. On-reserve the gap is more than 10 years while among urban Aboriginal people it is less than two years. On-reserve, the 1990 life expectancy at birth was 62 years for males and 69.6 years for females. For Status Indians in urban areas it was 72 and 79 years respectively, compared to 73.9 and 80.7 for the total population.

The First Nations death rate is lower than for non-First Nations people and has been lower for at least 20 years. The comparatively low death rate is the result of the First Nations’ younger age structure. The risk of mortality generally increases with age. Only 19% of the First Nations population is 40 years or older, compared with 44% of the Non-Aboriginal population. For age 65 or older, the figures are 3% for Status Indians and 14% for non-Aboriginal people.

Therefore, age-standardized mortality rates must be used to make meaningful comparisons between First Nations and other populations:

In 1993, the [national] mortality rate of First Nations, age-standardized to the 1991 Canadian population, was 10.8 deaths per 1000 population, 1.6 times the Canadian rate of 6.9. In 1979, the difference was 1.5 times. Where the Canadian rate is steadily declining, the First Nations rate has fluctuated yearly, making interpretation of trends difficult. However, it is clear that the gap in mortality is not closing.¹

The relative mortality risk for First Nations people varies by age group. The greatest disparities are in the one to four-year-old group, where, in 1993, the First Nations mortality rate was four times the Canadian average. This is followed by age groups 15-39 (three times), and 5-15 (two and a half times). Generally, the relative mortality risk decreases with age until by the age of 65+ it approaches the non-Aboriginal risk level. Relatively few First Nations people are in that age group.