Photo: R. Sieben · CC BY 3.0Irricana sits a long way from hospital care: 29 km for the average resident
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. A pharmacy is nearer: 8.6 km on average, with 0.0 within 3 km of the typical home. Health gives Irricana a grade of A−.
What stands out about health in Irricana
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Irricana is well below the typical town’s; 6.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Irricana, 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 households under strain
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Irricana at 4.5 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
More people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 4.8 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (57% as answered). Health survey ↓
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.
Irricana 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.
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.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.7%
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 runs lower than in the province, at 27% of adults against 32% for 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
No region of the 5 in Alberta lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 78.3, a gap of 4.7 years.
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; Irricana’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.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in 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
The region’s 54% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Alberta’s 52%, with 23% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
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 Irricana’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.3 about 83.2 years; Irricana’s region’s 83.0 is within a year of it. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 7 of them below it, a median of 82.8.
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.
Everyday care in Irricana: the nearest pharmacy 8.6 km away, 0.0 within 3 km
Straight-line distances from each part of Irricana, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Irricana is on the far side. 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Irricana alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Irricana
How far is Irricana from a hospital?
For everyday care, Irricana’s residents are 8.6 km from a pharmacy on average.
How is Irricana’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Irricana has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Irricana?
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 Irricana?
There is no figure for Irricana alone; its health region’s is 85.0 for women and 80.9 for men in 2022/2024.
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).