Canadian Cancer Registry

Age-standardization

Since the age structure of a population is a major determinant of its cancer burden, direct comparisons of basic rates across geographic regions or time periods would be misleading if age composition differed. The Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) uses age-standardization to remove the impact of age composition from comparisons across geographic regions or time periods. Specifically, the July 1, 2011 Canadian population is used as the standard population for the CCR beginning with the 2013 diagnosis year (see Table below, and CANSIM table 103-0554).  The age-standardized rates can be interpreted as the rates that would have been observed if the populations of interest had the same age distribution as the standard population.

Canada, July 1, 2011 Population by Age Group (both sexes combined)
Table summary
This table displays the results of Canada. The information is grouped by Age Group (appearing as row headers), Population and Weight (appearing as column headers).
Age Group Population Weight
0 to 4 years 1,899,064 0.055297
5 to 9 years 1,810,433 0.052717
10 to 14 years 1,918,164 0.055853
15 to 19 years 2,238,952 0.065194
20 to 24 years 2,354,354 0.068555
25 to 29 years 2,369,841 0.069006
30 to 34 years 2,327,955 0.067786
35 to 39 years 2,273,087 0.066188
40 to 44 years 2,385,918 0.069474
45 to 49 years 2,719,909 0.079199
50 to 54 years 2,691,260 0.078365
55 to 59 years 2,353,090 0.068518
60 to 64 years 2,050,443 0.059705
65 to 69 years 1,532,940 0.044636
70 to 74 years 1,153,822 0.033597
75 to 79 years 919,338 0.026769
80 to 84 years 701,140 0.020416
85 to 89 years 426,739 0.012426
90 years and over 216,331 0.006299
Total 34,342,780 1.0

The July 1, 1991 Canadian population was used as the standard population for the CCR for the 1992-2013 diagnosis years (see Table below, and CANSIM table 103-0553), but will be discontinued for the 2014 and subsequent diagnosis years.

Canada, July 1, 1991 Population by Age Group (both sexes combined)
Table summary
This table displays the results of Canada. The information is grouped by Age Group (appearing as row headers), Population and Weight (appearing as column headers).
Age Group Population Weight
0 to 4 years 1,953,346 0.069464
5 to 9 years 1,953,045 0.069454
10 to 14 years 1,913,115 0.068034
15 to 19 years 1,926,090 0.068495
20 to 24 years 2,109,452 0.075016
25 to 29 years 2,529,239 0.089944
30 to 34 years 2,598,289 0.0924
35 to 39 years 2,344,872 0.083388
40 to 44 years 2,138,891 0.076063
45 to 49 years 1,674,153 0.059536
50 to 54 years 1,339,902 0.047649
55 to 59 years 1,238,441 0.044041
60 to 64 years 1,190,217 0.042326
65 to 69 years 1,084,588 0.03857
70 to 74 years 834,024 0.029659
75 to 79 years 622,221 0.022127
80 to 84 years 382,303 0.013595
85 years and over 287,877 0.010237
Total 28,120,065 1.0
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