Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0Vermilion River County’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.4 years: life expectancy 79.1
Across the region, 52% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Alberta (53%). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Vermilion River County’s is long: 23 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Vermilion River County is C−, #444 of 474 in Alberta and #2,376 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Vermilion River County
A long way to hospital
For 27% of homes in Vermilion River County the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 21 km. Getting care ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Vermilion River County is well above the typical town’s; 12% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 21 km from the average home in Vermilion River County, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
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.
Vermilion River County grades C− 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: #444 of 474 in Alberta and #2,376 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.
The nearest hospital is 23 km from the average home in Vermilion River County
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Vermilion River County’s own, not the region’s.
Vermilion River County is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Alberta, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.9% 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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 39%, the province 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 0.8 years short of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Vermilion River County’s region comes out below the trend.
Use the deprivation index alone and Vermilion River County’s region, at 3.3, should live about 79.9 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), but it reaches only 79.1. It is outlived by 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 81.2 years. Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $85,000 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
The region comes 3rd of 5 in Alberta, where life expectancy runs from 78.3 to 83.0 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Vermilion River County’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 51% very good or excellent, against 54%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Asked about their mental health, 54% of adults here said very good or excellent; across Alberta it was 52%, and 22% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Vermilion River County is 39th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 8,158 to 8,412 people, median 4.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alta Vista ON A+ | 8,387 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 2 | G-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 8,224 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 3 | Valley Gardens MB B+ | 8,329 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 37 | Douro-Dummer ON C− | 8,379 | 20 km | 47% |
| 38 | Rigaud QC B+ | 8,187 | 22 km | 55% |
| 39 | Vermilion River County AB C− | 8,282 | 23 km | 52% |
| 40 | Argyle NS D− | 8,216 | 23 km | 44% |
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
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Vermilion River County itself is the trip to care.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
Questions about health in Vermilion River County
How far is Vermilion River County from a hospital?
Residents of Vermilion River County have a pharmacy 21 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Vermilion River County?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Vermilion River County’s health region only: 81.7 years for women and 76.6 for men (2022/2024).
How is Vermilion River County’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 Vermilion River County’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Vermilion River 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 19%.
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).