Overview
CIHI and Statistics Canada worked together to develop the Canadian segment of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Database. Its purpose is to collect and process a consistent series of internationally comparable data for close to 1,200 variables.
The OECD Health Database is used to support policy planning, decision-making and research, and facilitates international comparative reporting.
Data source
Most Canadian data originates from databases maintained by CIHI and Statistics Canada, including
- CIHI's health expenditures, health services and health professionals databases
- Statistic Canada's demographic and vital statistics databases
Data from additional sources has also been collected.
Data coverage
CIHI submits data to the OECD that pertains to
- Health care resources
- Health care utilization
- Expenditure on health
- Health care financing
- Social protection
- Health workforce migration
- Health care quality indicators
- Pharmaceutical market
Data is included for all of Canada, without any breakdown by region or province.
Data availability
OECD Health Database (Canadian segment) data on health expenditure and financing is available for the following years:
- Most recent year: 2022
- Next release: 2024 (June)
- Historical data: 1960 to 2021
Data for other variables is generally available up to 2021.
Classifications
CIHI submits data to the OECD annually to update Canada-specific segments of the database.
For many variables, the data is reported according to the following international classifications:
- The International Classification of Health Accounts is used to report health expenditure and financing, and the number of inpatient facilities and their beds.
- The International Standard Classification of Occupations is used to report health employment.
- The International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation is used to report hospital discharges and average length of stay by diagnostic categories.
- ICD-9-CM is used to report surgical procedures.
- The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics and Methodology is used to report pharmaceutical consumption and sales.
Data elements
The OECD Health Database is divided into 12 sections:
- Health status
- Health care resources
- Health care utilization
- Long-term care resources and utilization
- Health expenditure and financing
- Social protection
- Pharmaceutical market
- Non-medical determinants of health
- Demographic references
- Economic references
- Health workforce migration
- Health care quality indicators
See a list of OECD Health Database data elements External link, opens in new window.
Data quality
CIHI ensures that the quality of the information in our data holdings is suited to its intended uses and that data users are provided with accurate information about data quality. Read more about our Data and Information Quality Program.
See information about the sources and methods for the OECD Health Database (Canadian segment).