This resource is available in English only.
Social determinants of health: The Canadian facts (second edition)* was written to spark research, advocacy, debate and meaningful action on the social and economic factors that shape the health of Canadians.
This resource begins by outlining the pathways through which adverse social and economic conditions give rise to stress, and how that stress in turn harms health.
The authors then explore the 17 social determinants of health listed below. For each, they consider how Canada compares to other developed nations, while also listing policy implications and identifying key sources.
The second edition of this book includes comments about the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the social determinants of health in Canada. The authors have updated the original list of determinants, shifting language from Aboriginal status to Indigenous ancestry, including new sections on geography, globalization and immigration. Finally, the second edition concludes with analysis of the welfare state.
*To access to the first edition of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, visit https://thecanadianfacts.org/The_Canadian_Facts.pdf
Raphael, D., Bryant, T., Mikkonen, J., & Raphael, A. (2020). Social determinants of health: The Canadian facts. Oshawa, ON: Ontario Tech University Faculty of Health Sciences and Toronto, ON: York University School of Health Policy and Management. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianfacts.org/
The National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health is hosted at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
We acknowledge that we are located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People.
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health 2024
