Photo: Bulliver · CC BY-SA 3.0People in Athabasca’s health region live to 78.3 on average, 3.2 years short of the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole reaches 53%. Measured from where Athabasca’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.2 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Athabasca a grade of C−, #443 of 474 in Alberta and #2,375 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Athabasca
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Athabasca than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 9.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
No pharmacy close by
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 33 km from the average home in Athabasca, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Hospital care on the doorstep
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Athabasca; from its centre of population the trip is 2.0 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Athabasca grades C− 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: #443 of 474 in Alberta and #2,375 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.
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.
From Athabasca, a hospital is 1.2 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Athabasca, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Athabasca is on the near side. 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Athabasca’s dot is marked, close to the line.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Athabasca belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.7 predicts: 78.3 years, the trend 78.5. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 7 still live longer, with 78.9 years in the middle. 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Alberta, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the shortest-lived of the 5 regions in Alberta, 4.7 years behind the first at 83.0.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Athabasca’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 49% to 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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Athabasca comes 7th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,853 to 2,922 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairview AB C− | 2,918 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Black Diamond AB A+ | 2,910 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 3 | Westmount SK A− | 2,872 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 5 | Minnedosa MB B− | 2,859 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 6 | Moosomin SK C− | 2,906 | 1.1 km | 49% |
| 7 | Athabasca AB C− | 2,887 | 1.2 km | 48% |
| 8 | Norwood West MB B+ | 2,909 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 9 | Springdale NL C+ | 2,893 | 1.3 km | 54% |
| 40 | Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part ON D | 2,877 | 44 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
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 | 1.2 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
| Athabasca County 14 km | 18 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Athabasca’s; read across for the hospital trip. Athabasca County is the furthest from care, 18 km to Athabasca’s 1.2 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Athabasca’s own.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
Questions about health in Athabasca
What is the life expectancy in Athabasca?
For the health region that includes Athabasca, women can expect 80.9 years and men 76.1 (2022/2024).
How is Athabasca’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Athabasca: 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?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
How far is Athabasca from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 33 km from the average resident of Athabasca, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).