SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - With an average life expectancy of 81 years, Canadians live long lives.

However, in the North it's a different story.

According to a study released by the Conference Board of Canada last month, residents of the Northwest Territories live an average of 76.2 years, nearly four years less than the national average.

The Yukon fairs a bit better with 76.8 years and Nunavut even worse at 68.7 years.

The region of Nunavik in northern Quebec came in last with a life expectancy of 66.7 years, a number that places them behind such countries as Uzbekistan, Tonga and Iraq.

Dr. Kami Kandola, deputy chief medical health officer for the NWT, said lifestyle choices are the main cause of premature death in the territory, but added Yellowknifers shouldn't be lumped together with the rest of the territory.

"I think Yellowknife would have life expectancies more comparable to Canada, but I can't say by how much."

The GNWT Bureau of Statistics only keeps these kinds statistics for the entire territory, not each community, as the population is so low.

The main difference, Kandola said, is that accidents and injuries claim a lot more lives outside the capital, as does substance abuse related deaths.

One major cause of concern, she said, is smoking.

In 2009 36 per cent of NWT residents listed themselves as smokers, compared to 26 per cent of Yellowknifers and 18 per cent of Canadians.

Although there are now significantly fewer smokers than in 1996, when 44 per cent of NWT residents said they smoked, the numbers are up among youth and within smaller communities.

A whopping 46 per cent of youth ages 15 to 24 smoke, according to those 2009 statistics, and 50 per cent of residents in smaller communities.

Kandola said it's those "upstream" factors, not access to health care, that put us behind our neighbours to the south in terms of life expectancy.

"Health care comes in the last five, 10 years of someone's life," she said.

Finding solutions at the community level that target healthy living, healthy eating and reducing smoking and drinking are key, according to Kandola.

Kandola was quick to point out that life expectancy in the territory has risen over the past decades and that the infant mortality rate is still comparable to Canada.

"We're not that much lower than the Canadian life expectancy as compared to Nunavut," she said.

The top causes of death for women in the NWT are cancer, cardiovascular disease, injuries and respiratory diseases.

For men it's injuries, cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease.

The study released May 16 was prepared by the Conference Board of Canada's Centre for the North, which aims to illustrate the similarities and differences between the country's northern and southern regions.

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