Amid a declining life expectancy across the country, new national data released this week show that years on from the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 and the opioid crisis have had lasting impacts on life and death in Canada.

Record-breaking COVID deaths and the disproportionate loss of life to overdoses among younger Canadians have driven the country’s life expectancy down a full year since 2019; only the second decrease of its kind in the 21st century.