For the first time, the average Canadian baby faces more than 80 years of life, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

In a study based on mortality rates across the country, the federal agency reported that the combined life expectancy of both sexes reached 80.2 years in 2004, up from 79.9 years in 2003.

Children at a Winnipeg day-care centre are among the youngsters who can expect to live longer. Average life expectancy was more than 80 years in 2004, says Statistics Canada.
(Winnipeg Free Press/ Ken Gigliotti/Canadian Press)

The study is silent on what factors may be behind the improvement. Nor do the figures apply to people old enough to read this.

"If you were born in 2004, you can expect to live 80.2 years," Shiang Ying Dai, a senior analyst in the agency's health statistics division, told CBC News Online.

Girls are still expected to outlive boys, but the gap in 2004 — about 4.8 years — was the narrowest in the past 25 years.

The male life expectancy was 77.8 years (up 21 weeks from 2003), compared with a female life expectancy of 82.6 years (up 10 weeks).

Between 1979 and 2004, the male life expectancy rose 6.4 years while the female life expectancy rose 3.8 years, Statistics Canada said. Figures for 2005 are not yet available.

The infant mortality rate in 2004 was 5.3 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Although unchanged from 2003, it has shrunk by more than half in the past 25 years, the agency said.

The infant mortality rate for boys fell to 5.5 in 2004 from 5.7 in 2003. The rate for girls increased to 5.0 from 4.8.