Income inequality and life expectancy in Canada: New evidence from province-level panel regression, 1996-2019

Previous research on the association between income inequality and population health measures has yielded mixed results. This reflects, in part, the level of income inequality and surrounding political economic context of the setting in question. Previous research in Canada has not consistently identified an association between income inequality and population health measures. Those studies, however, largely focused on time periods prior to the manifestations of neoliberal policy reforms, which led to high levels of income inequality characterized by rising income at the top of the distribution. Our objective was to investigate the population-level association between income inequality and life expectancy in Canada during the years 1996-2019, a period of high after-tax income inequality in Canada.

We used ordinary least squares panel multivariate regression analysis of publicly available aggregate data on after-tax income inequality and life expectancy for the 10 Canadian provinces during the period 1996-2019. We used an inequality variable that is sensitive to the disproportionate growth in income at the top of the income distribution (share of income held by top 5%); we took into account the proportion of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit populations across provinces and over time; and we separately analyzed female, male, and total populations.

We found a robust, negative and statistically significant association where higher population-level after-tax income inequality was associated with lower average life expectancy in Canada.

Our findings speak to the far-reaching consequences of neoliberalism, and to the need for public policy that will reduce income inequality in the interest of the public's health.