Status Indian Population and Health

Topic Box from the 2006 Sixth Annual Benchmark Report

British Columbia's Status Indian population is growing more rapidly than the overall population. Similar to employment and education indicators of economic well-being, the Status Indian population is generally showing improvement in key health outcome indicators relative to both past performance and to the BC population as a whole. However, despite such improvements, a gap between BC's Status Indian and the general population persists on key health outcome indicators such as life expectancy at birth and low birth weight.

As of 2002, BC's Status Indian population numbered 151,783 individuals, or 3.7% of the total BC population. While the province's Non-Status Indian population grew by 6.4% between 1996 and 2002, the Status Indian population grew by 16.0%, more than twice the rate of growth. More rapid population growth among the province's Aboriginal community has been reflected in an age distribution that varies markedly from that of BC's overall population. The median age of British Columbia's total population is 38.4 years, 81.9% of the population is aged 15 and over, while 13.6% is 65 or over. In contrast, the median age of the Aboriginal population is 26.8 years with 69.4% of the population being 15 years of age or over, and 4.3% being age 65 and over.

Life Expectancy at Birth
While there are a variety of indicators available that provide some measure of the overall health of a population, life expectancy at birth is one of the most widely used. Increases in a child's probable life span, as judged at the time of birth based on current mortality rates, provide an indication of positive improvements in a society's general health.

Currently, the average child born in BC can expect to live 80.8 years. This life span is slightly higher than the Canadian average and ranks above any other Canadian province or territory. However, a child born in the province's Status Indian community can expect an average life span of 77.2 years – three and a half years less than the life expectancy for the total BC population.

While the Status Indian community's life expectancy lags that of BC's general population it has made marked improvement in the past decade – with today's rates a full 15.9% higher than just twelve years ago, when the average child born in the Status Indian community was expected to live 66.7 years. The rate of change in this measure has slowed as life expectancy nears that of the general population, but it is still much higher than the improvements being seen by the rest of the BC population.

Low Birth Weight
The Status Indian community reported a rate of 60.2 low weight births per 1,000 live births in 2003. This is 7.4% higher than the rate for the general population, 52.8 low weight births per 1,000 live births. Year to year data variations mean that in some years rates of low weight newborns appear similar for both populations. However, an average of low birth weight rates over the period 1991 through 2003 yields an average rate of 55.9 for the Status Indian population versus 50.4 for the general population, a difference of 10.9%.

Similar to the total population, the rate for Status Indian low weight births varies by Health Authority. Northern Health Authority Status Indians reported a 49.0 low weight birth rate while Status Indians in the Fraser Health Authority reported a rate of 75.5 low weight births per 1,000 live births.

The low birth weight rate is volatile, with rates for the Status Indian population ranging from a low of 52.3 in 1998 and 2000 to a high of 60.2 in 2003 over the 1991 to 2003 time period. The 2003 rate is well above the 1991 to 2003 average but will likely drop soon. The rate for British Columbia as a whole has also increased above its long-term average in recent years.