Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0For health, Falher sits behind 94% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 53% for Alberta. What sets Falher apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 18 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Falher grades D for health.
What stands out about health in Falher
Shorter lives in the region
Falher’s region sits 3.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Falher is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Falher live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (18 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Long-term conditions run high
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 9.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Falher grades D 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
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
Last of the 5 regions in Alberta: the highest figure is 83.0, 4.7 years above the lowest.
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; Falher’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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.9%)
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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 41%, the province 32%. At 25%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 19%.
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.
The nearest hospital is 18 km from the average home in Falher
Straight-line distances from each part of Falher, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Falher 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Falher’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 3.7 about 78.5 years; Falher’s region’s 78.3 is within a year of it. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 7 of the 10, around a median of 78.9 years. Its towns’ household income, about $112,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s 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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 49% very good or excellent, against 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
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 48% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 24% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Falher
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falher | 18 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
| Smoky River No. 130 7.6 km | 23 km | 48% | 78.3 | D− |
Same region, same survey: Falher’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Falher’s own.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- 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.
Questions about health in Falher
What is the life expectancy in Falher?
There is no figure for Falher alone; its health region’s is 80.9 for women and 76.1 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Falher from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.3 km from the average resident of Falher, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How is Falher’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 Falher’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Falher?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
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).