Sex differences in life expectancy in Canada: immigrant and native-born populations

A growing body of research often indicates that immigrant populations in Western countries enjoy a lower level of mortality in relation to their native-born host populations. In this literature, sex differences in mortality are often reported but substantive analyses of the differences are generally lacking. The present investigation looks at sex differences in life expectancy with specific reference to immigrant and Canadian-born populations in Canada during 1971 and 2001. For these two populations, sex differences in expectation of life at birth are decomposed into cause-of-death components. Immigrants in Canada have a higher life expectancy than their Canadian-born counterparts. In absolute terms, immigrant females enjoy the highest life expectancy. In relative terms, however, immigrant men show a larger longevity advantage, as their expectation of life at birth exceeds that of Canadian-born men by a wider margin than do foreign-born females in relation to Canadian-born females. It is also found that immigrants have a smaller sex differential in life expectancy as compared with the Canadian born. Decomposition analysis shows this is a function of immigrants having smaller sex differences in death rates from heart disease and cancer. Factors thought to underlie these differentials between immigrants and the Canadian born are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.