Northern Lights County scores below 96% of Canadian towns for health
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 53% for Alberta. For Northern Lights County itself the measure is access, and it lags: 25 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Northern Lights County is D−, #468 of 474 in Alberta and #2,562 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Northern Lights County
Life expectancy below the norm
Northern Lights County’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 ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Northern Lights County live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (18 km from its centre of population), and 25% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Smoking runs high
Smoking is commoner around Northern Lights County than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Long-term conditions run high
High blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.9%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Northern Lights County 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. Its place: #468 of 474 in Alberta and #2,562 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.
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
No region of the 5 in Alberta has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 83.0, 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; Northern Lights County’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.
Getting to hospital from Northern Lights County: 25 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Northern Lights County, 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, Northern Lights County 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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.9% 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
Self-reported obesity, 41%, tops Alberta (32%). More adults drink heavily, 25% to the province’s 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.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Northern Lights County’s lies near the line.
At 3.7 on the index, regions tend to reach 78.5 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Northern Lights County belongs to reaches 78.3. 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. Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $112,000 a household, above most regions’, with a life expectancy below most; income and lifespan correlate at only 0.14 across regions.
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.
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer 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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Alberta (48% 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.
Among 40 towns its size, Northern Lights County is 38th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,055 to 4,175 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 6.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCauley AB B+ | 4,060 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Sunalta AB A+ | 4,151 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 3 | Balfour ON B | 4,171 | 1.0 km | 53% |
| 36 | Woodlands MB D | 4,057 | 22 km | 50% |
| 37 | Haut-Madawaska NB C− | 4,098 | 23 km | 48% |
| 38 | Northern Lights County AB D− | 4,115 | 25 km | 48% |
| 39 | Lac-Etchemin QC B | 4,089 | 31 km | 59% |
| 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 Northern Lights County
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Lights County | 25 km | 48% | 78.3 | D− |
| Manning 17 km | 0.9 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
The neighbours all sit in Northern Lights County’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Residents of Manning live nearer a hospital, at 0.9 km against 25 km in Northern Lights County.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Northern Lights County itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Northern Lights County
How far is Northern Lights County from a hospital?
Residents of Northern Lights County have a pharmacy 26 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Northern Lights County?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Northern Lights County’s health region only: 80.9 years for women and 76.1 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Northern Lights County?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Northern Lights County’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Northern Lights County has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
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).