A Synthesis of Health and Social Surveys in Canada, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom from 1995 to 2005

There are a substantial number of health surveys in Canada. These surveys are widely used by federal and provincial health authorities as well as by the research community. Within the context of the formulation of a ministerial plan regarding health and social surveys, the Institut de la statistique du Québec has released a report which provides a critical review and inventory of the surveys conducted in Canada and abroad in order to identify trends and open up new opportunities for survey projects in Québec.

This article is an excerpt from this report and serves as an overview. It lists the number of health and social surveys conducted over a 10-year span, namely from 1995 to 2005, in four countries: Canada, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Other recensions have dealt with Canadian surveys from 1950 to 1997, European surveys or with a selection of general or longitudinal surveys in anticipation of evaluating their capacity for the surveillance of the health of populations and for research on the same subject.

This article presents an update of the information on Canadian surveys and a comparative analysis between the Canadian provinces, Canada, and three other countries, on themes and populations having been the subject of cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys.