A new study of life expectancy in Canada has found that men in the highest income bracket can expect to live eight years longer than men who are at the lowest income levels.
The C.D. Howe Institute conducted the study, which found that for women, the gap in longevity between the richest and the poorest is less at three years. The study concluded that the richest men in Canada can expect to live to age 83 and the richest women to age 86. The poorest men, by comparison, can expect to live to age 75 while poor women will likely live to be as old as 83.
The C.D. Howe Institute said the study was performed using figures from the Canada Pension Plan for Canadians born between 1923 and 1955.
Life expectancy in Canada has risen steadily, with men expected to live 7.7 years longer now than they did in 1965 and women expected to live 6.4 years longer. A key finding of the C.D. Howe study is that the longevity gap between rich and poor men has remained fairly constant. Life expectancy for poor and middle-income men is moving up at the same rate as it is for the better off.
This is in contrast to the U.S., where there has been almost no change in longevity and life expectancy for the poorest 20% of the population, yet there are substantial gains for the highest income earners. In the U.S., the longevity gap is 14 years between the richest and poorest men.
Related Stories
