I will take over from here.
The next slide we'll be looking at is a chart that identifies the breakdown of youth deaths in Canada by age group in 2016.
There were 267,000 deaths in 2016. Of these, 3,120 were youths aged between zero and 19 years. This represents 1% of all deaths.
As you can see by the larger section in light blue, 56% of all youth deaths occurred in infants. Children aged five to nine years, in grey, represent the smallest proportion of youth deaths, at 5%. The proportion of deaths occurring in each age group to overall youth deaths has remained consistent over the past 25 years.
This next slide describes the trend in youth deaths in Canada, since 1991 across the different age groups. Over the last 25 years, youth deaths have decreased across all age groups. Infant deaths contributed most to this overall decline with a reduction of 832 deaths.
I will now describe the differences in the youth mortality rate across the provinces and territories, and this is on slide 6.
In the table, red cells indicate rates above the Canadian average, yellow cells rate equal to the Canadian average, and green cells indicate rates below the Canadian average.
The variability in mortality rates is greatest in infants, with rates ranging between 3.5 in British Columbia and 17.7 in Nunavut. In the table, two provinces stand out due to trends in their youth mortality rates: Saskatchewan rates are above the Canadian average for each age group, while Quebec is the only jurisdiction where rates are equal to or below the Canadian average for each age group.
The next slide shows the trend in infant deaths, by age group, from 1991 to 2016.
Infant deaths—under one year—have decreased in all age groups with the exception of the under one day age group. The greatest drop in number of deaths occurred in infants one to 11 months old, from 935 in 1991 to 450 in 2016. Both the one to 11-month and one to six-day age groups experienced the greatest relative decreases of 51%.
The following chart shows the breakdown of infant deaths by age group, and here we are on slide number 8.
Overall, 1,741 infants died in 2016. Almost three-quarters of these deaths occurred in infants under one month and over half of all infant deaths occurred to neonates less than one day old.
Finally, the number of infant deaths tends to decrease with age, with the lowest number of deaths occurring in the six- to 11-month age group.
We'll now shift our focus to the leading causes of deaths in Canada. This is slide number 9. The following bar graph identifies the five leading causes of infant deaths in 2016. Most infant deaths are the result of congenital malformations—chromosomal abnormalities—followed by deaths due to short gestation and low birth weight.
Although sudden infant death syndrome is not part of the list of leading causes in 2016, it was part of the top five leading causes of death historically. As of 2012, this concept is no longer used by most certifiers in Canada. As a result, it is no longer possible to compile the number of SIDS deaths occurring in Canada. The deaths once confirmed as SIDS can now be found in the unknown category.
There were 3,159 stillbirths in Canada in 2017, and less than one-third of those deaths occurred at a gestation of 28 weeks or more. Although the total number of stillbirths has been on the rise since 1991, the number of late fetal deaths at 28 weeks or more has actually decreased by 23%.
The last slide shows the stillbirth and perinatal death rates, which is the period of 28 weeks of gestation up to six days after birth.
The mortality is variable across the provinces and territories.
The Atlantic provinces have rates equal to or below the Canadian average, with the exception of Prince Edward Island where the perinatal mortality rate is above Canadian average.
Quebec and Alberta have rates below the Canadian average, while Ontario, Manitoba and the territories have rates above the Canadian average.
Though British Columbia has a perinatal mortality rate below the Canadian average, the stillbirth rate is the highest amongst the provinces.
Saskatchewan has a stillbirth rate below the Canadian average but its perinatal death rate is above the Canadian average.
This concludes the information we have to present to you today. We'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.