Health in Barriere · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Barriere sits a long way from hospital care: 52 km for the average resident
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 48% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. For everyday care, the nearest pharmacy is 1.0 km away on average (1.0 within 3 km). Barriere grades C− for health.
British Columbia: 50% · The very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy numbers here cover the Thompson/Cariboo Health Service Delivery Area
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Born around Barriere, a child can expect 2.7 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 20.2 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Shorter lives than its deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 3.1, the trend across regions gives 80.5 years of life; Barriere’s region reaches only 78.8. For its deprivation ↓
Harder circumstances
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Barriere’s neighbourhoods average 4.5 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Barriere 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.
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 (52 km)Better than 3% 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.
The wider area
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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
Ranked 13th of 16 in British Columbia: the regions span 76.6 to 86.8 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.8
Economic dependency5.0
Ethno-cultural composition2.0
Situational vulnerability4.5
This is the one part of the block measured for Barriere itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
For its deprivation
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.7 years behind the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Barriere’s region comes out below the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of Barriere’s region’s: 78.8 years where the line expects 80.5 at 3.1. 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
23% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.2% diabetes
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
Everyday care in Barriere: the nearest pharmacy 1.0 km away, 1.0 within 3 km
Straight-line distances from each part of Barriere, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
52 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
37 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.0 km
residents’ average distance
1.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
100%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
From Barriere that is further than the 4.4 km of the typical town in British Columbia, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Barriere’s; read across for the hospital trip.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
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.
•
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. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Barriere alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Barriere
How far is Barriere from a hospital?
Residents of Barriere have a clinic 37 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.0 km away, in straight lines.
What is the life expectancy in Barriere?
For the health region that includes Barriere, women can expect 81.8 years and men 76.0 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Barriere?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Barriere’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Barriere’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: Kayoty · CC BY-SA 3.0