BC Vital Events and Statistics Deaths data set

Data source: BC Ministry of Health

Date range

January 1, 1985 onward

Description

Includes all deaths registered in the province of BC.

 

Variables available

Both Core and Non-Core fields are available for this data set.

Core vs. Non-Core Data

  • Core Data: Some BC Ministry of Health data sets available through PopData and HDPBC are called ‘Core Data’. A Core Data set is a standardized ‘bundle’ of commonly requested variables. A Core Data set may not include ALL the variables available in the data set. For example, some Core Data variables, such as geography or organisational codes, are suppressed to meet privacy legislation requirements.
  • Non-Core Data: Non-Core Data are variables that are NOT included in the standardized Core Data set. Non-Core Data is available for request as an addition to the Core Data set.

For the majority of DARs, requesting access to Core Data ONLY may make the data access approval process quicker and may expedite data provision. Data requests that include Non-Core Data will be subject to regular rather than expedited processes, both for application review and data provisioning.

Please note that the overall data access request is subject to meeting ALL of the Five SAFEs requirements. For more detail on the Five SAFEs, visit the Eligibility and the Five SAFES model page of our website.

> download BC Vital Events and Statistics Deaths all available variables (pdf)

 

Data update schedule

For BC, our Vital Events and Statistics data sets usually have a 3-month lag.

Approximate data update schedule Complete data up to:
January  September 30th
April  December 31st 
July March 31st 
October  June 30th 


Please note: Our data update schedule depends on when these data are made available to us by the data provider, so the update schedule is an estimation only. 

Exclusions
  • Abortion procedures, including those conducted in concert with other procedures, are unavailable from all applicable files. This is in accordance with the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act article 22.1.
  • Excludes all deaths to BC residents which occur out-of-province.
Quality/accuracy of information/field coding source
  • There are federal standards for vital statistics certificates and reports that have been adopted by the provinces. The use of nationally uniform vital registration and statistics standards allows for comparison of both national and provincial data.

 

DARs/Projects snapshot

Total number of DARs/Projects currently with PopData:

472

The breakdown:

DARs in preparation/review

69

Projects with amendments in preparation/review

26

DARs in post-approval

31

Projects with data being prepared

32

Projects being maintained
(inc. 9 DASH, 18 DI Program and 3 ODC projects)

289

CaraSpace projects

25

Last revised March 15th, 2024

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The Data Access Support Hub (DASH) is a one-stop data access service portal for researchers requiring multi-jurisdictional data in Canada.

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