Revealing the hidden economic and social cost of one of Canada’s most widespread chronic diseases
Arthritis Society Canada set out to change how Canada understands and responds to arthritis. Despite affecting millions of people and being a leading cause of disability in Canada, arthritis is often understood primarily through diagnoses and health care spending, leaving much of its impact on employment, household finances, independence, participation, and quality of life unseen.
To make the full scale of the burden visible, Arthritis Society Canada commissioned CANCEA to undertake a world-first national assessment of the economic and social value burden of arthritis from 2025 to 2055. The resulting report provides a comprehensive picture of how arthritis affects people, health systems, employers, households, communities, and the Canadian economy, strengthening the national case for action.
ONEMODEL: One connected picture of arthritis in Canada
CANCEA applied ONEMODEL, its integrated socioeconomic modelling framework, to represent arthritis across Canada from 2025 to 2055. The model follows people and disease pathways over time, connecting health care use, employment, private costs, disability, and wellbeing within a consistent population, geography, and analytical framework.
By comparing scenarios with and without arthritis, CANCEA estimated the economic burden and social value loss attributable to the disease. This scenario-based approach shows how arthritis affects people, households, employers, health systems, communities, and the Canadian economy, while also revealing how impacts differ across populations, arthritis conditions, and regions.
The scale of the burden:
- 6.1 million people in Canada were living with a modelled arthritis condition in 2025; this is projected to reach almost 10 million by 2055.
- The total annual burden was estimated at $142.4 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed $222.3 billion by 2055.
- Social value loss was estimated at $96.5 billion in 2025, rising to $151.1 billion annually by 2055—more than twice the measured economic burden in both years.
The findings show why arthritis cannot be understood through medical spending alone. Its economic consequences include health care and out-of-pocket costs, lost productivity, missed work, and early withdrawal from the workforce. Its larger social burden reflects chronic pain, constrained choices, lost independence, reduced participation, and diminished life satisfaction.
Turning evidence into action
The report equips Arthritis Society Canada to engage governments, health systems, employers, researchers, partners, and the public with evidence connecting the daily experiences of people living with arthritis to wider economic and societal consequences.
Together, CANCEA and Arthritis Society Canada have made the hidden human and societal burden of arthritis measurable, making its full impact and the consequences of inaction harder to ignore.
Read the full report: Burden of Arthritis in Canada
