Life expectancy around Duchess is 78.7 years, 2.8 less than for the typical Canadian town
Self-rated health is ordinary for Alberta: 52% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 53%. Measured from where Duchess’ residents live, the nearest hospital is 18 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Duchess grades C+ for health.
What stands out about health in Duchess
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Duchess’ own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 18 km. Getting care ↓
Pharmacies far off
Picking up a prescription in Duchess takes a trip of 17 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Harder circumstances
With a situational-vulnerability score of 5.0 out of 5, Duchess sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
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.
Duchess 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.
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.
The nearest hospital is 18 km from the average home in Duchess
Straight-line distances from each part of Duchess, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Duchess travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
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
Ranked 4th of 5 in Alberta: the regions span 78.3 to 83.0 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Duchess itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.2 years behind the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Duchess’, lies beneath the trend.
Use the deprivation index alone and Duchess’ region, at 3.3, should live about 79.9 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), but it reaches only 78.7. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median is 81.2 years. A household income of about $83,000, 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.3%)
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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 39%, 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.
Self-rated health much as in Alberta: 53% to 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: 53% 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.
Health in the places around Duchess
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchess | 18 km | 52% | 78.7 | C+ |
| Newell County 17 km | 18 km | 52% | 78.7 | C+ |
| Brooks 18 km | 1.3 km | 52% | 78.7 | B− |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Duchess’ regional figures. Residents of Brooks live nearer a hospital, at 1.3 km against 18 km in Duchess.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Duchess alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
Questions about health in Duchess
How far is Duchess from a hospital?
For everyday care, Duchess’ residents are 17 km from a pharmacy on average.
What is the life expectancy in Duchess?
For the health region that includes Duchess, women can expect 80.6 years and men 76.8 (2022/2024).
How is Duchess’ Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Duchess: 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 Duchess?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, 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).