Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Balwin’s health region
Life expectancy in the region is 81.2 years (83.6 for women, 78.8 for men, 2022/2024). Measured from where Balwin’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 2.4 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Balwin a grade of B+, #255 of 474 in Alberta and #1,543 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Balwin
More households under strain
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Balwin at 4.7 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 13 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.9 km off, Balwin 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.
Balwin grades B+ 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: #255 of 474 in Alberta and #1,543 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.
From Balwin, a hospital is 2.4 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Balwin’s own, not the region’s.
Against 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Balwin sits near the middle. 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.
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
Life expectancy in Alberta runs from 78.3 to 83.0; this region sits 2nd of the 5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Balwin’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Balwin’s region shows close to the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Balwin’s region is a typical case: 81.2 years at a score of 2.8, where the trend says 81.4. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 4 above, 4 below, a median of 81.2 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.
19% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.4% 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
Obesity tracks the province: 33% of adults here, 32% across 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.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta (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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Alberta (51% against 52%), while 24% call most days stressful.
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: Balwin comes 12th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,030 to 4,155 people, median 6.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCauley AB B+ | 4,060 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Swan River MB B− | 4,048 | 0.7 km | 51% |
| 3 | Centremount ON B | 4,053 | 0.8 km | 53% |
| 10 | Malmo Plains AB B+ | 4,150 | 1.5 km | 51% |
| 11 | Elbow Park AB A+ | 4,120 | 2.2 km | 56% |
| 12 | Balwin AB B+ | 4,092 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 13 | Forest Heights AB B+ | 4,118 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 14 | Matt Berry AB B+ | 4,093 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 40 | Mistissini QC | 4,067 | 66 km | – |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Balwin
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Nothing in the regional columns separates Balwin from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Balwin alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Balwin
How is Balwin’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Balwin: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Balwin?
For the health region that includes Balwin, women can expect 83.6 years and men 78.8 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Balwin?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
How far is Balwin from a hospital?
For everyday care, Balwin’s residents are 1.9 km from a pharmacy on average.
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).