INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON
The comparison of life expectancy of Indigenous peoples across countries is problematic for a range of reasons, including differing methodologies, reference periods and definitions of a person's indigenous or ethnic status. There are also issues associated with the accurate measurement of deaths of indigenous persons and indigenous populations. As a result, life expectancy estimates between countries are not directly comparable.
In Canada, the most recently available estimates of life expectancy are for four Inuit-inhabited areas where 80% of the combined populations of these areas are Inuit. The estimates do not distinguish between life expectancy for Inuit and non-Inuit people but use total life expectancy for these areas as an overall indicator. Life expectancy at birth in Inuit-inhabited areas of Canada for 2001 (1999-2003) was 64.4 years for males and 69.8 years for females (Statistics Canada, 2013).
In New Zealand, a definition based on ethnicity is used in producing life tables for the Maori and non-Maori populations. Ethnicity in this context relates to the ethnic group or groups that people identify with, or perceive they belong to. For 2010-2012, life expectancy at birth was 72.8 years for Maori males and 76.5 years for Maori females (Statistics New Zealand, 2013).
For more information see the Statistics Canada <http://www.statcan.gc.ca> and Statistics New Zealand <http://www.stats.govt.nz> websites.
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