Thorhild 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. Closer to home, a hospital is 22 km from the average resident of Thorhild County, further than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Thorhild County is D−, #466 of 474 in Alberta and #2,559 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Thorhild County
Life expectancy below the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Thorhild County runs 3.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Far from a hospital
Residents of Thorhild County live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (23 km from its centre of population), and 10% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
More smokers
Around Thorhild County, 14% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Long-term conditions run high
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes. 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.
Thorhild 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: #466 of 474 in Alberta and #2,559 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.
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
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; Thorhild 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.
From Thorhild County, a hospital is 22 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Thorhild County, weighted by who lives there.
From Thorhild County that is further than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
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
At 41%, self-reported obesity is above Alberta’s 32%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Thorhild County’s, follows the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.7, the expected figure is 78.5 years, and Thorhild County’s region matches it closely with 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. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $112,000, more than in most regions, yet lives here are shorter than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Thorhild County comes 34th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,100 to 3,196 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 7.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blakeley ON B+ | 3,151 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Cedar Hill ON A | 3,190 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 3 | Ainslie Wood East ON B | 3,112 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 32 | Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine BC D− | 3,189 | 17 km | 42% |
| 33 | Ange-Gardien QC A− | 3,100 | 17 km | 57% |
| 34 | Thorhild County AB D− | 3,147 | 22 km | 48% |
| 35 | Saint-David-de-Falardeau QC A− | 3,128 | 24 km | 66% |
| 36 | Electoral Area D, North Okanagan BC B− | 3,184 | 24 km | 52% |
| 40 | Houston BC D− | 3,114 | 54 km | 42% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
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 Thorhild County itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
Questions about health in Thorhild County
How far is Thorhild County from a hospital?
Residents of Thorhild County have a pharmacy 32 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Thorhild County?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 80.9 for women, 76.1 for men around Thorhild County (2022/2024).
How is Thorhild County’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Thorhild County: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Thorhild County?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. 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).