Senescence is a time of decline; yet many seniors remain active and engaged into very old age. How and why do some seniors live long and keep well? We report the responses to this question from a representative sample of 2,783 Canadian seniors. Overall, seniors placed primary responsibility for their long lives on their own individual practices,…

Using the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), this paper examines the health status of the older (aged 55[thorn]) immigrant population relative to that of non-immigrants in order to identify areas where their health statuses diverge. First, we compare the health status of older immigrants (foreign-born) aged 55 and over in Canada to…

Although population aging on a national scale has received much attention in Canada, its geographical dimensions have not. This paper examines the demographic processes that underlie population aging at the provincial and metropolitan scales for the periods 1991 to 1996 and 1996 to 2001. We differentiate between the effects of aging-in-place and…

The authors show that Canada's demographic situation in the future will differ substantially from what has been known in the past. Their analysis suggests that up to about 2010 population change will have less of an impact on the real level of aggregate government expenditures than on the size of the real gross national product. (Author/CT)

Recent studies have established that a healthy immigrant effect operates in Canada--immigrants are generally healthier than Canadian-born persons--but that this effect tends to diminish over time, as the health of immigrants converges to the Canadian norm. Although this effect has been examined by place of birth, language, marital status,…

Canadians have expressed concern that access to a family physician (FP) has declined precipitously. Yet FP to population ratios remained relatively stable over the last decade, and there were perceptions of physician surpluses, at least in urban centres, 10 years ago. We evaluated whether demographic changes among patients and FPs, and in the…