Education

• High School Graduates, 1996 Map | Read about this map
• Post-secondary Graduates, 1996 Map | Read about this map

These two health determinants (income and education) are often dealt with together as they are highly associated with each other. However, their association is not a one-to-one relationship. This is shown in the following two graphical illustrations: Figure 1 identifies the income adequacy (refer to Income Measures: Methodological Note) proportions of Canadians by educational attainment classes. The education classes include: elementary - persons whose highest level of education may include some secondary school education but primarily only have an elementary school education or less; secondary - completed secondary school; university - have attained at least a bachelor's degree. Income adequacy increases dramatically from elementary school to university attainment. However, a university degree does not guarantee high income adequacy. Approximately 8% and 18% of university graduates are shown to have achieved only low and medium income adequacy, respectively. Conversely, 38% and 37% of less well educated Canadians are in the medium to high income adequacy classes, respectively.

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Figure 1. Income Adequacy by Educational Attainment Classes

Figure 2 reinforces the view that there is no 1:1 relationship between income and education. As illustrated, the proportions of university attainment increase as the income adequacy class increases. However, many Canadians without a university education are also doing very well in terms of income adequacy.

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Figure 2. Educational Attainment by Income Adequacy Classes

Education deserves to be treated as a separate non-medical determinant of health while acknowledging general associations between education and income. Some of the links between health and educational attainment are provided in:

Health and Educational Attainment

Regional variations in educational attainment across Canada are illustrated using maps that show the proportions of Canadians in the age class 25-29 years who have completed high school and, in the age class 25-54, the proportions who have completed a post-secondary education. In terms of regional variations, these rates tend to be related in geographical areas and therefore the maps should be examined together as much as possible.

Health and Educational Attainment

Canada has an enviable record in providing its citizens with an education. The postwar baby boom saw an explosion in elementary/secondary school enrolment, peaking in numbers in the early 1970s; followed by an overlapping era (1960s - 1990s) of dramatic increases in university enrolment (Clark 2000). Summary results of these changes can be seen in Figure 3. Most significantly, the proportion of Canadians with less than a Grade 9 education has been cut in half from 25.4% in 1976 to 12.4% in 1996; conversely, the proportion of Canadians with a university education rose from 6.4% in 1976 to 13.3% by 1996.

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Figure 3. Highest Level of Schooling, 1976 to 1996

Unfortunately, these great gains in educational attainment are not evenly distributed throughout Canada. In some provinces and territories (Figure 4), the proportions of the population (15 years of age and older) who did not complete a high school education remain very high.

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Figure 4. Contrasting Educational Attainment Levels, 1996 (proportions of population 15 years of age and older)

The reason for health researchers and policy makers to be concerned with these educational attainments levels has been summarized by Health Canada as follows:

On average, people with higher levels of education are more likely to:

• be employed
• have jobs with higher social status
• have stable incomes

How are higher levels of education and health related? On average, a higher level of education:

• increases financial security
• increases job security and satisfaction
• equips people with the skills they need to identify and solve individual and group problems
• increases the choices and opportunities available to people
• can unlock the innate creativity and innovation in people, and add to our collective ability to generate wealth

Two graphical illustrations of the inter-relationships between education and health can be drawn from the 1996 to 1997 National Population Health Survey. For these analyses, the educational attainment responses of the individuals who participated in the survey are categorized as: elementary - some secondary schooling but primarily attainment less than grade 9; secondary - completed high school and/or possibly other post-secondary training; university - some university training or completed university including graduate and medical degrees.

Respondents were asked to rate their health in terms of whether it was poor to excellent. Figure 5 indicates that Canadians generally consider that their health is very good to excellent. Notably, this self-rated health status improves from an educational attainment level of elementary school and increases for those who are currently in university or have completed a university degree. With some relatively minor variations, this pattern for Canada is common when provincial education-health status statistics are examined.

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Figure 5. Proportion of Population Whose Self-Rated Health Status is Very Good/Excellent by Education Levels

A similar pattern emerges when one examines most illnesses. The 1996 to 1997 National Population Health Survey asked respondents to indicate, among other things, whether they suffered from a chronic health condition (e.g. chronic bronchitis or emphysema, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes). As one might expect, the highest proportions of Canadians with chronic conditions occur in the low educational attainment category (Figure 6). But this pattern is not universal across Canada where, in Saskatchewan for example, some provinces the reverse pattern is observed. In such locations, other determinants of health may mitigate the positive contributions associated with higher education.

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Figure 6. Proportion of Population with Chronic Health Conditions by Education Levels