Deaths from cancer, heart disease, overdose and Covid-19 rise in 2021: StatCan

According to Statistics Canada, there were 311,640 deaths in Canada in 2021, a 1.0% increase from 2020.

More people died in Canada in 2021 than last year.

Cancer, heart disease, overdose and Covid-19 are cited as leading causes of death.

Male deaths increased by 2.5%, and female deaths decreased by 0.5% compared to 2020.

Cancer and heart disease remain the two leading causes of death, Statcan says.

Accidental deaths have increased by 14.5 percent in 2021.

The fourth leading cause of death was reported to be Covid-19, which also continued to affect the health of Canadians.

Statistics show that in the second year of the pandemic, deaths of people under the age of 65 due to Covid-19 have more than doubled.

The agency says more than 2,600 young Canadians died from the disease in 2021, and about 66 percent of them were men.

The Northwest Territories have been hit hardest by the death rate, along with Newfoundland, Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

Quebec saw the largest drop in deaths at 7.1 percent, followed by Manitoba at 3.3 percent.