Victoria indicatorsLife expectancy at birth
82.0 years
No target found. Who could set one: Province of B.C.. Targets and comparisons
This is the first figure shown in this series, so there is no change to report yet. No direction label is shown until a second one is published.
Source: Island Health. We read it on Nov 12, 2026.
Over time
Targets and comparisons
No target found
No target for life expectancy found in the Ministry of Health 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan (February 2026), as of November 12, 2026. Who could set one: the Province of B.C.
Source: Ministry of Health 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan, Province of B.C., February 2026. Area: British Columbia. Updated: Yearly, with the provincial budget (February). Licence: Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.
Show the numbers as a table
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021–2022 | 82.0 years |
Who decides
Province of B.C. Sets provincial standards for health services and appoints Island Health’s board. Health Authorities Act, s. 3
Show the 2 other bodies and the laws
| Body | What it decides | Law or bylaw |
|---|---|---|
| Province of B.C. | Sets provincial standards for health services and appoints Island Health’s board. | Health Authorities Act, s. 3 Health Authorities Act, s. 4 |
| Island Health | Plans and runs health services in the region: which services, which facilities and the programs that deliver them. | Health Authorities Act, s. 5 |
| Government of Canada and Parliament | Pays the Canada Health Transfer to the Province, on the conditions set in the Canada Health Act. | Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, Part V.1 Canada Health Act, s. 5 and 7 |
No government decides this directly. Health also depends on income, housing, habits and genes, which no single government decides.
Province: last general election October 19, 2024; next set for October 21, 2028 unless called earlier (Constitution Act, s. 23). Canada: last general election April 28, 2025; next set for October 15, 2029 unless called earlier (Canada Elections Act, s. 56.1).
Each row says what a body decides and links to the law, order or bylaw that gives it that role. It does not say who caused a change: markets, households and other governments also move these numbers. Who decides what, for every measure · How we choose
What this number does not show
- Life expectancy at birth from the Ministry of Health, as printed in Island Health’s profile. It is an average over two years, so one year’s events move it little.
One more limit
- The toxic drug crisis and the pandemic lowered life expectancy across B.C. after 2019; the profile notes a sharp decline since 2019–2020.
Not measured yet in health care: wait to see a specialist before surgery, people waiting for a family doctor in Greater Victoria, waits for detox, and for treatment in Greater Victoria. See all 18 gaps
In plain words
How many years a baby born in the Greater Victoria local health area can expect to live if today’s death rates stay the same, from Ministry of Health data printed in Island Health’s area profile.
How we decide “No label yet”
There is no earlier figure in the same series to compare with yet. A direction label needs at least two comparable periods, so none is shown until a second one is published.
A higher life expectancy means people live longer on average. 82.0 years in 2021–2022 (women 84.3, men 79.6). Island Health 81.3, B.C. 82.0 (Island Health, February 2025 profile, from Ministry of Health data).
Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series. The rule.
All notes on this number
Why it matters. It sums up the health of the whole population, including the effect of the toxic drug crisis.
- Life expectancy at birth from the Ministry of Health, as printed in Island Health’s profile. It is an average over two years, so one year’s events move it little.
- The toxic drug crisis and the pandemic lowered life expectancy across B.C. after 2019; the profile notes a sharp decline since 2019–2020.
- Island Health overwrites the profile each year; this page reads the edition dated February 2025, which gives one period in its table. The profile’s chart of earlier periods prints values without their years, so they are not read.
Which places
Area: Greater Victoria health area (411)
The Province’s Greater Victoria local health area (411): the core municipalities of the region.
Included
- Victoria
- Esquimalt
- Oak Bay
- Saanich
- View Royal
Not included
- The Western Communities (Langford, Colwood, Sooke and others) and the Saanich Peninsula (Sidney, North Saanich, Central Saanich), which are separate local health areas
- The Southern Gulf Islands
Official definition
Shown for comparison
- Comparison area: Vancouver Island (Island Health) Island Health’s whole service area: Vancouver Island and surrounding communities, not only Greater Victoria.
- Comparison area: All of B.C. The whole province of British Columbia.
How the agency describes it: Greater Victoria local health area (411): Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich and View Royal.
How we got it
This number is published by the agency as shown; it is not calculated here. The script reads it from the agency’s own document and refuses to show it unless the expected text is found.
Women and men, 2021–2022
- Women: 84.3 years (2021–2022). Island Health 84.0, B.C. 84.9.
- Men: 79.6 years (2021–2022). Island Health 78.7, B.C. 79.3.
Licence and credits
This figure is public but not under an open licence: the agency publishes it for anyone to read, and it is shown here with credit and a link to the agency’s terms. About licences.
- Licence
- Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution. Agency’s terms of use
- Updated by agency
- Yearly (Island Health local health area profiles); latest release May 23, 2025
- Retrieved
- Nov 12, 2026, 10:22 PM B.C. time
Island Health publishes the profiles on its Local Health Area Profiles page and asks readers to contact its population health team about discrepancies; no separate terms of use are posted.
Source: Island Health, Local Health Area Profile: Greater Victoria (411), February 2025. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.
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