Health at a Glance 2025: Canada
Table of contents
Health at a Glance provides a comprehensive set of indicators on population health and health system performance across OECD Members, Key Partners and accession candidate countries. These indicators cover health status, non-medical determinants and risk factors, access to and quality of healthcare, health spending and health system resources. Analysis draws from the latest comparable official national statistics and other sources.
This country note shows how Canada compares to other OECD countries across a selection of key indicators from the report.
Canada performs better than the OECD average on 8 out of 10 key indicators measuring health status and risk factors for health.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Health status
In Canada, life expectancy was 81.7 years, 0.6 years above the OECD average.
Preventable mortality was 126 per 100 000 in Canada (lower than the OECD average of 145); with treatable mortality at 58 per 100 000 (lower than the OECD average of 77).
Suicide rates were 9 per 100 000 population in Canada, compared to the OECD average of 11 deaths per 100 000 population.
3.2% of people in Canada rated their health as bad or very bad (OECD average 8.0%).
Risk factors for health
Daily smoking prevalence in Canada, at 8.7%, was lower than the OECD average of 14.8%.
Alcohol consumption was similar to the OECD average; at 8.1 litres per capita in Canada versus 8.5.
40% of adults in Canada did not perform sufficient physical activity, higher than the OECD average of 30%.
Self-reported obesity prevalence was 24% in Canada, higher than the OECD average of 19%.
People in Canada were exposed to 6.3 micrograms of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre (OECD average 11.2 micrograms).
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 for further details on these and related indicators.
Canada performs better than the OECD average on 5 out of 10 key indicators measuring access to and quality of care (missing data on 1 of these indicators).
Note: AMI: Acute Myocardial Infarction. DDD: Defined Daily Dose.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Access to care
In Canada, all of the population is covered for a core set of services, while 98% of population is covered on average of OECD countries.
50% of people in Canada were satisfied with the availability of quality healthcare (OECD average 64%).
In terms of financial coverage, 70% of spending in Canada was covered by mandatory prepayment, lower than the OECD average of 75%.
9.1% of people in Canada expressed unmet needs for healthcare, compared to the OECD average of 3.4%.
Quality of care
92% of children at 1 year were vaccinated against DTP in Canada, lower than the OECD average.
No comparable data are available on mammography cancer screening.
Canada prescribed 11 defined daily doses of antibiotics per 1 000 population, less than the OECD average of 16.
There were 440 avoidable admissions per 100 000 population in Canada, less than the OECD average of 473.
In Canada, 30‑day mortality after AMI was 4.5% (OECD average 6.5%), and 7.6% after stroke (OECD average 7.7%), based on unlinked data.
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 for further details on these and related indicators.
Canada has more resources than the OECD average on 5 out of 10 key indicators measuring health system resources (missing data on 1 of these indicators).
Note: CT: Computer Tomography; MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; PET: Positron Emission Tomography.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Health spending
Canada spends $7 301 per capita on health, more than the OECD average of $5 967 (USD PPP).
This is equal to 11.3% of GDP, compared to 9.3% on average in the OECD.
Canada spends 6.9% of total health spending on prevention in current health expenditure, more than the OECD average of 3.4%.
Health workforce
There are 2.7 practising doctors per 1 000 population in Canada (OECD average 3.9); and 10.0 practising nurses (OECD average 9.2).
The number of long-term care workers per 100 people aged 65 years and over in Canada is 3.7, lower than the OECD average of 5.0.
There are 93 pharmacists per 100 000 population in Canada, compared to the OECD average of 86.
Hospitals and equipment
Canada has 2.5 hospital beds per 1 000 population, less than the OECD average of 4.2.
There are 26 CT scanners, MRI units and PET scanners per million population in Canada (OECD average 51).
No comparable data are available on the share of generics in the pharmaceutical market.
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 5, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 for further details on these and related indicators.
Health at a Glance provides a comprehensive set of indicators on population health and health system performance across OECD Members, Key Partners and accession candidate countries. These indicators cover health status, non-medical determinants and risk factors, access to and quality of healthcare, health spending and health system resources. Analysis draws from the latest comparable official national statistics and other sources.
Alongside indicator-by-indicator analysis, an overview chapter summarises the comparative performance of countries and major trends. This edition also includes a thematic chapter on gender and health.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
The full book is available in English: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.
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