Health

Health Data

Population health metrics, mortality trends, and public health indicators across Alberta.

Health data might seem peripheral to economic analysis, but it is deeply connected. Life expectancy is one of the strongest correlates of community economic prosperity. Birth and death rates determine natural population growth — the baseline before migration. Mortality patterns reveal healthcare system demand and workforce impacts.

For real estate investors: municipalities with rising life expectancy and net positive births tend to sustain housing demand. For employers: opioid mortality and physician shortages directly affect labour availability. For policymakers: these numbers are the ground truth beneath every budget line item in healthcare spending.

All data here comes from official government sources — the Alberta Regional Dashboard (municipality-level demographics) and Alberta Open Data (province-wide mortality statistics). Where available, we link to the original datasets.

Demographics

Life expectancy, births, and deaths by municipality across Alberta. These are foundational population health metrics — they tell you whether a community is growing, aging, or declining. Life expectancy varies significantly across Alberta municipalities, often correlating with income levels and proximity to healthcare services. Births minus deaths gives you natural population change, separate from migration.

Alberta Regional Dashboard

Mortality

Leading causes of death in Alberta, trends over time, and age/gender breakdowns. Cancer and heart disease are consistently the top two causes, but the mix shifts over time — opioid-related deaths surged post-2016, and COVID-19 appeared in 2020. Understanding mortality patterns helps contextualize healthcare demand, insurance costs, and workforce availability.

Alberta Open Data (CKAN)

Substance Use

Coming Soon

Opioid-related hospitalizations, deaths, and EMS responses from Health Infobase Canada. Alberta has among the highest opioid mortality rates in Canada, with significant regional variation. This data is critical for understanding healthcare system load, labour force impacts, and community resilience.

Health Infobase Canada

Healthcare Workforce

Coming Soon

Physician supply and distribution from CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information). Doctor-to-population ratios vary dramatically across Alberta — rural municipalities often have severe shortages. This data matters for anyone evaluating community livability, real estate potential, or business expansion into underserved areas.

CIHI

Common terms in this section

Life expectancy: — The average number of years a person is expected to live, calculated at birth. Varies by municipality, gender, and socioeconomic status. Alberta's provincial average is typically around 81-82 years.
Natural increase: — Births minus deaths. A positive natural increase means the population is growing from births alone, independent of migration. Most Alberta municipalities have positive natural increase, but some rural areas are negative.
Age-standardized rate: — A rate adjusted to remove the effect of age differences between populations. Essential for comparing mortality between municipalities with different age profiles (e.g., a retirement community vs. a young oil town).
CKAN: — Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network. The open data platform used by the Government of Alberta to publish downloadable datasets. Most Alberta Open Data CSVs are hosted on CKAN at open.alberta.ca.