What is life expectancy in Canada?

Life expectancy in Canada was 82.63 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.

What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Canada?

The highest recorded value was 82.63 years in 2023.

What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Canada?

The lowest recorded value was 39.05 years in 1831.

How does Canada rank for life expectancy?

Canada ranks 26th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.

Is life expectancy rising or falling in Canada?

Over the last ten years it is up 1.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Canada data come from?

The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Life expectancy in Canada

Name: Life expectancy in Canada
Creator: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
License: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)

Canada: Life expectancy was 82.63 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)

82.63 years

Change on year

up 1.7%

World rank

26th

of 236 countries

All-time high

82.63 years

in 2023

All-time low

39.05 years

in 1831

Years of data

112

1831–2023

Life expectancy in Canada, 1831–2023

Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

The most recent figure for life expectancy in Canada is 82.63 years, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 112 years on record.

The figure is up 1.7% on the previous year and up 1.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in Canada peaked at 82.63 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 39.05 years, in 1831.

Canada ranks 26th of 236 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 112 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1830s	39.05 years	39.05 years	39.05 years	1
1840s	40.32 years	40.32 years	40.32 years	1
1850s	41.06 years	41.06 years	41.06 years	1
1860s	41.59 years	41.59 years	41.59 years	1
1870s	42.56 years	42.56 years	42.56 years	1
1880s	44.73 years	44.73 years	44.73 years	1
1890s	45.17 years	45.17 years	45.17 years	1
1900s	48.63 years	48.63 years	48.63 years	1
1910s	52.51 years	52.51 years	52.51 years	1
1920s	58.02 years	56.96 years	59.26 years	9
1930s	61.87 years	58.96 years	63.7 years	10
1940s	65.64 years	63.74 years	67.59 years	10
1950s	69.55 years	68.21 years	70.61 years	10
1960s	71.67 years	70.97 years	72.4 years	10
1970s	73.54 years	72.61 years	74.84 years	10
1980s	76.23 years	75.06 years	77.12 years	10
1990s	78.08 years	77.43 years	78.89 years	10
2000s	80.1 years	79.23 years	81.06 years	10
2010s	81.82 years	81.34 years	82.28 years	10
2020s	81.88 years	81.25 years	82.63 years	4

Countries ranked near Canada

23 Vatican 82.98 years compare
24 United Arab Emirates 82.91 years compare
25 Iceland 82.69 years compare
27 Martinique 82.57 years compare
28 Ireland 82.41 years compare
29 Israel 82.41 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Canada

Age population, age 14, female, interpolated 208,704 (2025)
Age population, age 16, female, interpolated 215,145 (2025)
Population ages 15-64, total 26.97 million (2025)
Age population, age 15, male, interpolated 220,012 (2025)
Age population, age 15, female, interpolated 211,687 (2025)
Age population, age 14, male, interpolated 217,399 (2025)
Population ages 65 and above, total 8.44 million (2025)
Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 207,308 (2025)
Age population, age 13, male, interpolated 216,465 (2025)
Age population, age 16, male, interpolated 222,925 (2025)

All data for Canada →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in Canada?: Life expectancy in Canada was 82.63 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Canada?: The highest recorded value was 82.63 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Canada?: The lowest recorded value was 39.05 years in 1831.
How does Canada rank for life expectancy?: Canada ranks 26th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in Canada?: Over the last ten years it is up 1.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Canada data come from?: The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 112 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.