Photo: Dwayne Reilander · CC BY-SA 4.0For health, Bowness is ahead of 94% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Bowness’ is long: 5.2 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Bowness is A, #138 of 474 in Alberta and #327 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Bowness
Fewer smokers
Smoking is rarer around Bowness than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 6.2% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Bowness, a child can expect 1.5 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.7 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 4.8 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 57% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
With 6.7 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.9 km off, Bowness is well served for prescriptions. 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.
Bowness grades A 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: #138 of 474 in Alberta and #327 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.
17% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 6.7% diabetes
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across Alberta: 27%, the province 32%.
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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the longest-lived of the 5 regions in Alberta, 4.7 years ahead of the last at 78.3.
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 Bowness’ own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more 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 reads like the rest of Alberta: 54% against 52%, and 23% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Bowness: 5.2 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Bowness’ own, not the region’s.
From Bowness 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 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.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Bowness’ region comes out on the trend.
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 2.3 would be expected to reach 83.2 years, and Bowness’ region is close, at 83.0. Even beside regions as deprived, it stands out: 7 of its 10 closest matches fall short, their median 82.8 years.
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Bowness is 26th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 11,326 to 11,740 people, median 2.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milton-Parc QC A | 11,369 | 0.2 km | 54% |
| 2 | New Toronto ON A | 11,502 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Banff AB A+ | 11,402 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 24 | West Springs AB A | 11,632 | 5.0 km | 56% |
| 25 | Coldstream BC B | 11,380 | 5.1 km | 52% |
| 26 | Bowness AB A | 11,548 | 5.2 km | 56% |
| 27 | Ebenezer West ON A− | 11,510 | 5.7 km | 49% |
| 28 | Katimavik-Hazeldean ON A | 11,437 | 7.5 km | 56% |
| 40 | Chester NS D− | 11,740 | 25 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Bowness
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowness | 5.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Silver Springs 2.1 km | 4.8 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Cougar Ridge 2.2 km | 5.6 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Varsity 2.8 km | 3.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Montgomery 2.8 km | 2.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Coach Hill 3.2 km | 3.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Dalhousie 3.5 km | 2.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Every place around Bowness shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Montgomery is the closest to care, 2.2 km to Bowness’ 5.2 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Bowness shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- 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.
Questions about health in Bowness
How is Bowness’ Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Bowness has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Bowness?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
What is the life expectancy in Bowness?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 85.0 for women, 80.9 for men around Bowness (2022/2024).
How far is Bowness from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Bowness is 0.9 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).