The social environment

Health is influenced by income and education. People with higher incomes can generally expect to live longer and healthier lives than those earning less.

In 1996/97, only 47% of Canadians at the lowest income level rated their health as very good or excellent, compared with 73% in the highest income group.

Single mothers are an especially disadvantaged economic group. Citing stress and long hours of work as factors affecting their physical and psychological health, single mothers generally rate their own health status less favourably than other groups.

As for the effect of education, only 19% of people who had not graduated from high school said their health was excellent, whereas more than 30% of university graduates claimed they enjoyed excellent health.