People who move to Canada raise national life expectancy age
April 29 2009 by Liam Clifford
The British Columbian island community of Richmond has a life expectancy of 84.3 years which has been attributed to the healthy lifestyles imported with the people moving to Canada from abroad.
As foreigners move to Canada, they bring with them their own cultures and lifestyle habits, many of which can prove beneficial to the Canadian population, improving diets and extending lives.
Vancouver Coastal Health’s manager for family and community health, Diane Bissenden, says that Richmond’s diversity has a lot to do with its record life expectancy, which is three years longer than the average for the rest of the province. She says, “the demographics of our immigrants have made a difference, because Richmond residents are very healthy.
Health statistics show that Asian people have the longest life expectancy and that this does not reduce if they move to another country.
Richmond has the second highest proportion of minorities in the country, at 65.1%, according to the 2006 census.
Bissenden added that the healthy lifestyles of the local immigrants rub off the Canadian population. “Because we have a lot of immigrants coming in now, we have that positive effect,” she says.
See the latest Immigration News
