A higher life expectancy is considered an indicator of better overall health of the population.
Cumulative number of person-years lived, divided by the number of live births in the initial cohort.
A period life table approach is used, applying the age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given reference period to a hypothetical cohort.
Life tables are usually constructed separately for men and women because of their different mortality rates.
Population in an initial cohort of 100,000 live births
Cumulative number of person-years lived, for a cohort of 100,000 persons.
Age- and sex-specific mortality rates corresponding to the reference period are applied to a hypothetical cohort, typically of 100,000. Starting at birth, the probability of dying at each age or age interval is applied to the number of people surviving to that age or the beginning of the age interval, respectively.
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Life expectancy does not provide information about the quality of life. Other measures have been developed using a composite of morbidity and mortality data. For example, health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) is the average number of years that an individual is expected to live in a healthy state (PHAC, 2012).
Indicator results are based on three years of pooled data. The reference point reflects the mid-point of a three-year period.
Indicator results are also available on