Health Literacy

The map of Canada's health literacy

Report resources

This interactive map provides easy access to the average health-literacy scores and levels for more than 49,000 communities and neighbourhoods in Canada, as well as the country's major cities, health regions and provinces. As well as mapping average health-literacy score, it gives the proportion of the population below health-literacy Level 3 and population estimates for the same literacy levels.

To view this interactive map, you will need to install the free Flash Player onto your computer.

Using the health literacy map

  • Select the information you would like to see on the map—average health-literacy scores, proportion below Level 2 or below, etc. To do this, use the drop-down boxes under the heading "Select what you want to see."
  • Roll your cursor over the main map and see the health literacy data for an area, depending on what you have selected to view.
  • Click any area in the main map—whether at the community, city, health region or province level—to display a scorecard of its health-literacy profile. This will pop up to the right of the main map.
  • A scorecard lists an area's health-literacy data. The scorecard also provides the Canada data for easy comparison.
  • Zoom in on an area from its scorecard by clicking the "zoom to selection" icon (the magnifying glass) at the top right of the scorecard. You can also click on the city tabs to quickly zoom in on a major city.
  • To view different regions in Canada and its health regions, use the tabs with the corresponding names (above the map and to the left).
  • Print an area's map and scorecard by clicking the printer icon in the top right of the scorecard.
  • The scorecard can be moved by clicking and dragging it.
  • The map will scale to the size of the browser window.
  • Explanatory information is available by clicking on buttons with the cursive letter "i" on them. An information box will pop up with brief explanations and descriptions.

Go to the interactive map of health literacy »

Some definitions

Tabbed cities
The cities that have a tab on the map (top right) are considered major cities in Canada, as defined by Statistics Canada, including capitals. These tabbed cities use boundaries defined by the municipalities themselves. The cities often comprise a number of communities, so the only way to get a scorecard for the city (e.g. Ottawa) is to click on the city while viewing the province tab.

Health regions

Statistics Canada defines a health region as a geographic unit defined by the provincial ministries of health. Health regions are legislated administrative areas in all provinces. The health regions being displayed follow the 2005 variant classification.

Literacy levels
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the following five levels of literacy:

  • Level 1—Very poor literacy skills. An individual at this level may, for example, be unable to determine from a package label the correct amount of medicine to give a child.
  • Level 2—A capacity to deal only with simple, clear material involving uncomplicated tasks. People at this level may develop everyday coping skills, but their poor literacy makes it hard to conquer challenges such as learning new job skills.
  • Level 3—Adequate to cope with the demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society. It roughly denotes the skill level required for successful high-school completion and college entry.
  • Levels 4 and 5—Strong skills. An individual at these levels can process information of a complex and demanding nature.

Go to the interactive map of health literacy »

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About the data sources

Health literacy data at the provincial, territorial and health region levels:
The health-literacy data were estimated from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS) conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or re-disseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, its website at www.statcan.ca and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Health literacy data at the community levels:
The data for the local area maps is from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (IALSS) conducted by Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the 2001 Canadian Census. The maps were produced using a mapping technique developed by the Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy (CRISP). The CRISP mapping technique estimates a score on an outcome variable for all Canadian citizens, based on the best available information for each individual, and then displays the resulting scores on provincial or local area maps.

The approach uses the 2001 Canadian census data to create a file for each province that includes a “pseudo-record” for every individual in the province, based on the distribution of people by gender and age in each dissemination area (DA). An estimate of a person’s outcome (in this case their health-literacy score) for all people in the pseudo-record file is estimated using multilevel multiple regression techniques, based on the following data:

a. information at the individual level from a Statistics Canada survey (in this case the IALSS) about how well other people of the same age and gender scored in the person’s DA, and in other DAs in their local area (out to three levels of contiguity), and

b. information at the DA level on the average outcome scores and the demographic characteristics of all DAs in the province. For each estimate we add an error term based on the regression results of the multilevel model. Results are then aggregated to the DA level and used for mapping.

Please contact CCL for more detailed information on the methodology.

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