Photo: Qyd · CC BY-SA 3.0Life expectancy around Brazeau County is 79.1 years, 2.4 less than for the typical Canadian town
In the health survey, 52% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta’s 53%. For Brazeau County itself the measure is access, and it lags: 11 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Brazeau County grades C for health, #419 of 474 in Alberta and #2,258 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Brazeau County
Smoking runs high
Smoking is commoner around Brazeau County than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 12% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is Brazeau County’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 1.4 km. Getting care ↓
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.
Brazeau County 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: #419 of 474 in Alberta and #2,258 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (8.9%)
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 39% of adults against 32% for Alberta.
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.
Getting to hospital from Brazeau County: 11 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Brazeau County’s own, not the region’s.
From Brazeau 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. The centre of population is 1.4 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 11 km. The clinic list is thin in Alberta: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
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.
The region lives 0.8 years less than its deprivation predicts
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Brazeau County’s lies below the line.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Brazeau County belongs to lives less long than its score of 3.3 predicts: 79.1 years, where the trend gives 79.9. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 9 still live longer, with 81.2 years in the middle. Judged by income, around $85,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
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
Among the 5 regions in Alberta, from 78.3 to 83.0 years, this one is 3rd.
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 Brazeau County’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Alberta (54%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health is no outlier: 54% say very good or excellent (Alberta: 52%) and 22% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Brazeau County is 32nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,536 to 7,839 people, median 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landsdale ON B+ | 7,681 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | University ON A | 7,595 | 0.6 km | 50% |
| 3 | Central St. Boniface MB B+ | 7,772 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 30 | Shefford QC A | 7,704 | 10 km | 57% |
| 31 | Electoral Area A, Nanaimo BC B− | 7,825 | 11 km | 47% |
| 32 | Brazeau County AB C | 7,685 | 11 km | 52% |
| 33 | La Broquerie MB C+ | 7,808 | 13 km | 51% |
| 34 | Augusta ON C+ | 7,767 | 13 km | 51% |
| 40 | Donnacona QC A | 7,785 | 24 km | 62% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Brazeau County
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazeau County | 11 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Drayton Valley 2.0 km | 1.1 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
Every place around Brazeau County shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Drayton Valley is the closest to care, 1.1 km to Brazeau County’s 11 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Brazeau County alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Brazeau County
What is the life expectancy in Brazeau County?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Brazeau County’s health region only: 81.7 years for women and 76.6 for men (2022/2024).
How is Brazeau County’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Brazeau County’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Brazeau County from a hospital?
For everyday care, Brazeau County’s residents are 14 km from a pharmacy on average.
How healthy is Brazeau County?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
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).