Photo: CnekYT · CC BY-SA 4.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Ritchie’s health region
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 81.2, women 83.6 and men 78.8 (2022/2024). Measured from where Ritchie’s residents live, a hospital is 2.8 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. Health gives Ritchie a grade of B, #273 of 474 in Alberta and #1,588 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Ritchie
Pharmacies close at hand
With 15 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.5 km off, Ritchie is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Ritchie 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: #273 of 474 in Alberta and #1,588 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.
Getting to hospital from Ritchie: 2.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Ritchie, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Ritchie here: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital and 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Ritchie’s region’s dot is close to the line.
At 2.8 on the index, regions tend to reach 81.4 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Ritchie belongs to reaches 81.2. 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
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
At 33%, self-reported obesity is near Alberta’s 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.
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 2nd 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Ritchie’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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Alberta: 52% and 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 wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 51% very good or excellent against 52% for Alberta; stress is a daily matter for 24%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Ritchie is 20th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,138 to 5,292 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Alexander MB B+ | 5,161 | 0.5 km | 52% |
| 2 | Heritage SK B+ | 5,172 | 0.5 km | 49% |
| 3 | Didsbury AB A+ | 5,185 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 18 | Shaughnessy Park MB B+ | 5,169 | 2.6 km | 52% |
| 19 | Gourley ON B | 5,271 | 2.8 km | 53% |
| 20 | Ritchie AB B | 5,215 | 2.8 km | 51% |
| 21 | Ogilvie Ridge AB B | 5,218 | 3.2 km | 51% |
| 22 | Edmonton Energy And Technology Park AB B | 5,225 | 3.3 km | 51% |
| 40 | Marystown NL D− | 5,196 | 31 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Ritchie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ritchie | 2.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Bonnie Doon 1.1 km | 3.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Hazeldean 1.3 km | 3.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Strathcona 1.4 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Avonmore 1.9 km | 4.6 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Queen Alexandra 2.2 km | 1.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Riverdale 2.5 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
One health region covers Ritchie and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Ritchie shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
Questions about health in Ritchie
How is Ritchie’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Ritchie’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Ritchie?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men around Ritchie (2022/2024).
How healthy is Ritchie?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Ritchie from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Ritchie is 0.5 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).