Health in Ashcroft · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Life expectancy around Ashcroft is 78.8 years, 2.7 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Ashcroft is well placed: 1.1 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Ashcroft a grade of B−.
British Columbia: 50% · Measured across the Thompson/Cariboo Health Service Delivery Area: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
For a deprivation score of 3.1, the trend across regions gives 80.5 years of life; Ashcroft’s region reaches only 78.8. For its deprivation ↓
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.
Health Grade
Ashcroft grades B− for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
Very good or excellent health (48%)Better than 25% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 40% of Canadian towns
Smokers (13%)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (78.8)Better than 22% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (1.1 km)Better than 93% of Canadian towns
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.
For its deprivation
1.7 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Ashcroft’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 3.1 would suggest 80.5 years, but Ashcroft’s region stops at 78.8. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, all live longer; the middle of the group is 80.9 years.
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.
Conditions and habits
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.2%
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
23%
Arthritis
28%
Diabetes
8.2%
Obese (self-reported)
33%
Mood disorder
13%
Anxiety disorder
17%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
13%
Smoke every day
12%
Heavy drinking
22%
British Columbia
More adults report obesity than across British Columbia: 33%, the province 25%. At 22%, 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.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Ashcroft: 1.1 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Ashcroft, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
1.1 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
65 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.2 km
residents’ average distance
1.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Ashcroft is on the near side.
Life expectancy across the 16 health regions in British Columbia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in British Columbia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
78.8
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.2
more years expected at 65
13th
longest of 16 regions in British Columbia
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Richmond Health Service Delivery Area86.8
Fraser North Health Service Delivery Area84.4
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi Health Service Delivery Area84.3
Vancouver Health Service Delivery Area83.3
Fraser South Health Service Delivery Area83.2
South Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area82.7
Okanagan Health Service Delivery Area81.0
East Kootenay Health Service Delivery Area80.5
Fraser East Health Service Delivery Area80.0
Central Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.8
Kootenay-Boundary Health Service Delivery Area79.5
North Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.5
Thompson/Cariboo Health Service Delivery Area78.8
Northwest Health Service Delivery Area77.0
Northeast Health Service Delivery Area76.9
Northern Interior Health Service Delivery Area76.6
Of the 16 health regions in British Columbia, 13th place goes to this one, between a low of 76.6 and a high of 86.8.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.7
Economic dependency5.0
Ethno-cultural composition1.5
Situational vulnerability3.2
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Ashcroft’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.
Health survey
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 47% very good or excellent, against 50%
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
Health very good or excellent
47%
Health fair or poor
21%
Mental health very good or excellent
52%
Mental health fair or poor
16%
Most days quite a bit stressful
23%
Strong sense of belonging
65%
Satisfied with life
83%
British Columbia
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 52% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 23% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Neighbours
Health in the places around Ashcroft
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Cache CreekElectoral Area I (Blue Sky Country), Thompson-NicolaAshcroft
Nothing in the regional columns separates Ashcroft from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Electoral Area I (Blue Sky Country), Thompson-Nicola is the furthest from care, 21 km to Ashcroft’s 1.1 km.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Ashcroft alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
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.
•
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.
•
Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
•
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 Ashcroft
How is Ashcroft’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Ashcroft’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Ashcroft?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 81.8 for women, 76.0 for men around Ashcroft (2022/2024).
How healthy is Ashcroft?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 18%.
How far is Ashcroft from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Ashcroft is 65 km from a clinic and 1.2 km from a pharmacy.
Photo: Themightyquill · CC BY-SA 2.5