Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) metadata

Overview

CIHI and Statistics Canada worked together to develop the Canadian segment of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Database. Its purpose is to collect and process a consistent series of internationally comparable data for close to 1,200 variables.

The OECD Health Database is used to support policy planning, decision-making and research, and facilitates international comparative reporting.

Data source

Most Canadian data originates from databases maintained by CIHI and Statistics Canada, including

CIHI's health expenditures, health services and health professionals databases
Statistic Canada's demographic and vital statistics databases

Data from additional sources has also been collected.

Data coverage

CIHI submits data to the OECD that pertains to

Health care resources
Health care utilization
Expenditure on health
Health care financing
Social protection
Health workforce migration
Health care quality indicators
Pharmaceutical market

Data is included for all of Canada, without any breakdown by region or province.

Data availability

OECD Health Database (Canadian segment) data on health expenditure and financing is available for the following years:

Most recent year: 2023
Next release: 2025 (June)
Historical data: 1960 to 2022

Data for other variables is generally available up to 2022.

Classifications

CIHI submits data to the OECD annually to update Canada-specific segments of the database.

For many variables, the data is reported according to the following international classifications:

The International Classification of Health Accounts is used to report health expenditure and financing, and the number of inpatient facilities and their beds.
The International Standard Classification of Occupations is used to report health employment.
The International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation is used to report hospital discharges and average length of stay by diagnostic categories.
ICD-9-CM is used to report surgical procedures.
The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics and Methodology is used to report pharmaceutical consumption and sales.

Data elements

The OECD Health Database is divided into 12 sections:

Health status
Health care resources
Health care utilization
Long-term care resources and utilization
Health expenditure and financing
Social protection
Pharmaceutical market
Non-medical determinants of health
Demographic references
Economic references
Health workforce migration
Health care quality indicators

See a list of OECD Health Database data elements .

Data quality

CIHI ensures that the quality of the information in our data holdings is suited to its intended uses and that data users are provided with accurate information about data quality. Read more about our Data and Information Quality Program.

See information about the sources and methods for the OECD Health Database (Canadian segment).