The central objective of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is to gather health-related data at the sub-provincial levels of geography (health region or combined health regions).
The CCHS is a cross-sectional survey that collects information related to health status, health care utilization and health determinants for the Canadian population. The CCHS operates on a two-year collection cycle. The first year of the survey cycle ".1" is a large sample, general population health survey, designed to provide reliable estimates at the health region level. The second year of the survey cycle ".2" has a smaller sample and is designed to provide provincial level results on specific focused health topics.
The Canadian Community Health Survey: Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) for the 2017/2018 reference period is now available. In 2017 and 2018, data were collected in all provinces and territories from approximately 110,000 respondents aged 12 or older, residing in households.
The file provides data for 97 health regions or combined health regions across Canada on a wide range of topics. The data include information on: physical activity, height and weight, smoking, exposure to second hand smoke, alcohol consumption, general health, chronic health conditions, food security and use of health care services. It also provides information on the socio-demographic, income and labour force characteristics of the population.
Note that this PUMF is only for the two-year period 2017/18 and does not contain single years of data.
The Public Use Microdata File is designed so that you can build your own tables using advanced software, SAS, or SPSS. Under the Documentation folder you will find the User Guide for more information on the data.
The PUMF file package also contains files openable in Beyond 2020. Instructions for using these files can be found here.
When using Beyond 2020 to extract the data, the weights associated with each respondent's answers are included in the table. If you are using SAS, SPSS or another software to extract the data from the .TXT files, you must include the weights (WTS_M).
Data tables can also be created on the Statistics Canada website. You can access the online tables for annual estimates here: Table 13-10-0096-01, and the two year period estimates here: Table 13-10-0113-01.