Photo: George Dean · CC BY-SA 3.0Life expectancy around Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako is 76.6 years, 4.9 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 39% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. For Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako itself the measure is access, and it lags: 12 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako grades C− for health.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 12.4 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (39% as answered). Health survey ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 3.7 km. Getting care ↓
Below the trend for its deprivation
For a deprivation score of 3.7, the trend across regions gives 78.3 years of life; Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’s region reaches only 76.6. For its deprivation ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 26% of adults, diabetes for 10%. 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.
Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako 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.
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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 39% very good or excellent, against 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 40% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 28% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako: 12 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako, weighted by who lives there.
From Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako 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 centre of population is 3.7 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 12 km.
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.
The region lives 1.7 years less than its deprivation predicts
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’s region is below the line.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.7, Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’s region’s 76.6 years sit under the line’s 78.3. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 9 of them above it, a median of 78.5. Its towns’ household income, about $87,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (26%) and diabetes (10%)
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 British Columbia: 41%, 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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
No region of the 16 in British Columbia has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 86.8, a gap of 10.2 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; Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’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 in the places around Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako | 12 km | 39% | 76.6 | C− |
| Burns Lake 3.3 km | 0.8 km | 39% | 76.6 | C |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Burns Lake live nearer a hospital, at 0.8 km against 12 km in Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako
How healthy is Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako?
For the health region that includes Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako, women can expect 79.5 years and men 74.0 (2022/2024).
How is Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Electoral Area B, Bulkley-Nechako is 116 km from a clinic and 12 km from a pharmacy.
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).