Identifying how area-based socio-economic Indicators are measured in Canada

ABSTRACT

Socio-economic status (SES) is (based on the definition from BC Stats) a measure of the economic and social status of an individual or group of individuals based on education, income, occupation, and other relevant indicators, relative to other members of the population.(1) Given that it is an indicator of several important determinants of health, SES is a crucial variable to consider in developing and evaluating any policies, programs and services designed to enhance the health of individuals or populations. However, many data sources do not have individual SES measures, which require the use of geographical proxy measures. For populationbased analyses, area-based socio-economic indicators (ABSIs) are needed given that they allow for the measurement and tracking of area-level effects of SES on health