Photo: Ryan Durand · CC BY 4.0For health, Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako sits behind 95% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 39% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than British Columbia’s 50%. Closer to home, a hospital is 49 km from the average resident of Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako, and 100% live more than 30 km away. Health gives Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako a grade of D−.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako
A region where lives run shorter
Born around Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako, a child can expect 4.9 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 18.9 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
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 ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (50 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Behind regions as deprived
Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 3.7 predicts: 76.6 years against 78.3. 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.
Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako 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.
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.
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the shortest-lived of the 16 regions in British Columbia, 10.2 years behind the first at 86.8.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako 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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 39% 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
Mental health trails British Columbia: 40% very good or excellent to 49%, with 28% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako, a hospital is 49 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako, weighted by who lives there.
Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako is further out than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.7 years short of the trend
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako’s dot is marked, under the line.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako belongs to lives less long than its score of 3.7 predicts: 76.6 years, where the trend gives 78.3. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 78.5. Households here earn around $87,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (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%)
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 British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (22% 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako’s own.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
Questions about health in Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako
How healthy is Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako?
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 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako?
There is no figure for Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako alone; its health region’s is 79.5 for women and 74.0 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako from a hospital?
A clinic is 46 km from the average resident of Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako and a pharmacy 12 km, as the crow flies.
How is Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Electoral Area D, Bulkley-Nechako’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
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).