New Report Reveals Canadian Men Are Dying Too Young

Movember Canada, The Real Face of Men's Health GNW

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The Movember Institute of Men’s Health Releases Detailed Report on the State of Men’s Health in Canada, Calling for a National Men’s Health Strategy

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TORONTO, June 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Movember – the world’s leading men’s health charity – has released the Real Face of Men’s Health Report (the report) detailing new findings on the state of men’s health in Canada. The report reveals that more than two in five (44 percent) men living in Canada will die prematurely from largely preventable causes, and explores the barriers men face in healthcare engagement, including stigma, bias, and masculine stereotypes.

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The report is one of the first to explore the impact of men’s health on women, partners, families, communities, and the economy. Examined through the lens of caregiving, this dynamic is explored as when men are in good health, everyone else is society stands to benefit.

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In examining premature mortality among Canadian men, the report finds that men are disproportionately impacted by suicide and the opioid crisis. In 2023, suicide was the fourth leading cause of premature mortality in Canadian men, with men accounting for every 3 in 4 suicides. Further, in the first half of 2024, 72 percent of accidental opioid toxicity deaths and 63 percent of accidental opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations in Canada were among men.

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“For a long time, we’ve known about the stigmas and stereotypes that impact men’s health. But now that’s all really coming to a head with the alarming rates of suicide, opioid addictions, and premature deaths among Canadian men,” comments Dr. John L. Oliffe, co-author of the Real Face of Men’s Health Report and Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Men’s Health Promotion at the University of British Columbia. “This report is unique for the full breadth of issues and dynamics it covers, including how men’s health impacts women, partners, families, communities, and the economy. We need to start paying more attention to this.”

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The report also explores long-standing and emerging inequities among subgroups of men, including military personnel, sexual minority men, and Indigenous men – often overlooked populations.

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“It was imperative that this report specifically examine health trends among Indigenous, First Nations and Inuit populations, and while it is not surprising, it remains disheartening to see far worse health outcomes among these populations,” says Niigaan Sinclair, co-author of the Real Face of Men’s Health Report and a writer, editor, professor and activist based in Winnipeg.
“As example, ​Inuit men have a life expectancy of just 68.8 years, more than 13 years less than non-Indigenous men. We need to seriously begin addressing such disparities.”

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In response to the report’s findings, Movember is calling on the Government of Canada to commit to developing a National Men’s Health Strategy that ensures health services, systems, and policies are responsive to the unique needs of boys and men – especially those who face systemic disadvantages.

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“Men’s health has been relegated to the sidelines of broader health conversations for far too long and Canada risks a true public health crisis if it does not begin to acknowledge the unique physical and mental health challenges men are experiencing,” comments Michelle Terry, CEO of Movember. “Canada can look to the progress that Australia, Ireland and the UK have made with government commitments to men’s health, which fundamentally recognize that ​advocating for gender-responsive healthcare is not about prioritizing one gender over another but about addressing the unique health needs of all people.”