Photo: Joli Rumi · CC BY-SA 4.0Health in Athabasca County trails 94% of Canadian towns
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 48% very good or excellent, against 53% in Alberta. Measured from where Athabasca County’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 18 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Athabasca County a grade of D, #462 of 474 in Alberta and #2,547 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Athabasca County
A region where lives run shorter
Athabasca County’s region sits 3.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Athabasca County is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is Athabasca County’s own health question: 17% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 13 km. Getting care ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Athabasca County grades D for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
The region’s four figures and the town’s distance to a hospital are each ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, then averaged. Its place: #462 of 474 in Alberta and #2,547 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
How the grade works
Health is graded as a regional score, labelled as such: very good or excellent self-rated health, chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure averaged) and smoking from the Canadian Community Health Survey, each age-standardised so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, and life expectancy at birth, all for the health region. The residents’ average distance to a hospital is the one input measured for the town itself, so towns in one region can still differ.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
No region of the 5 in Alberta has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 83.0, a gap of 4.7 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Athabasca County’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 41%, the province 32%. At 25%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 19%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
The nearest hospital is 18 km from the average home in Athabasca County
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Athabasca County’s own, not the region’s.
From Athabasca County that is further than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. Few clinics are listed in Alberta, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Athabasca County’s dot is marked, close to the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 3.7 about 78.5 years; Athabasca County’s region’s 78.3 is within a year of it. Even beside regions as deprived, it lags: 7 of its 10 closest matches reach further, their median 78.9 years. A household income of about $112,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (correlation 0.14).
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 49% very good or excellent, against 54%
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health trails Alberta: 48% very good or excellent to 52%, with 24% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Athabasca County comes 38th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,161 to 7,391 people, median 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Currie Barracks AB A+ | 7,342 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 2 | Coronation Park SK B+ | 7,307 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 3 | Cathedral Village SK B+ | 7,311 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 36 | Portage la Prairie MB C+ | 7,359 | 14 km | 51% |
| 37 | Niverville MB C+ | 7,277 | 18 km | 51% |
| 38 | Athabasca County AB D | 7,280 | 18 km | 48% |
| 39 | Colborne ON C | 7,216 | 24 km | 49% |
| 40 | Trent Lakes ON C− | 7,357 | 30 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Athabasca County
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athabasca County | 18 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
| Athabasca 14 km | 1.2 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
Every place around Athabasca County shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Athabasca live nearer a hospital, at 1.2 km against 18 km in Athabasca County.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Athabasca County alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
Questions about health in Athabasca County
What is the life expectancy in Athabasca County?
There is no figure for Athabasca County alone; its health region’s is 80.9 for women and 76.1 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Athabasca County from a hospital?
For everyday care, Athabasca County’s residents are 33 km from a pharmacy on average.
How is Athabasca County’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Athabasca County: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Athabasca County?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).