The cost of injury in Canada
Related Topics
- CHIRPP: Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program
- The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program: A system to track injuries and poisonings in emergency departments (infographic)
- Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program and other injury prevention highlights: 25 year timeline
- Quick facts on injury and poisoning in Canada
- National CHIRPP studies and reporting
- Concussion in sport
- Tracking of concussions
- Opioid-related harms in Canada
Understanding the magnitude and scope of the financial costs associated with injuries is an essential element to injury prevention. Parachute has released a report, The Cost of Injury in Canada, which fulfills this need. This report looked at unintentional and intentional injuries in 2018, and estimated the total costs to Canadians were $29.4 billion. The Public Health Agency of Canada is pleased to have been involved in this important project.
Summary of Main Findings
This report estimates the total economic burden of injury in Canada at $29.4 billion in 2018. This estimate included direct costs of $20.4 billion arising from health care expenditures and indirect costs of $9 billion associated with reduced productivity from hospitalization, disability and premature death.
This report provides an update to the previous Cost of Injury in Canada report published in 2015. In 2010, costs of unintentional injuries were estimated at $22.1 billion, intentional injuries at $4.1 billion, and injuries of undetermined intent at $0. 46 billion.
The following table summarizes the total, direct, and indirect costs of injury in Canada by leading causes for 2018. The table is reproduced here with permission from Parachute.
| Cause | Direct costs ($ Millions) |
Indirect costs ($ Millions) |
Total costs ($ Millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transport Incidents | $2,243 | $1,374 | $3,617 |
| Falls | $9,146 | $1,107 | $10,253 |
| Drowning | $20 | $172 | $191 |
| Fire/Burns | $210 | $89 | $299 |
| Unintentional Poisoning | $456 | $2,149 | $2,605 |
| Struck by/against Sports Equipment | $131 | $97 | $228 |
| Other Unintentional Injuries | $6,953 | $1,114 | $8,067 |
| Suicide/Self-Harm | $554 | $2,356 | $2,909 |
| Violence | $578 | $367 | $945 |
| Undetermined Intent/Other | $125 | $118 | $243 |
| Total | $20,415 | $8,942 | $29,357 |
For more detailed information please review The Cost of Injury in Canada full report on the Parachute website.
Page details
- Date modified: