Electoral Area I, Cariboo scores below 93% of Canadian towns for health
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 39% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. What sets Electoral Area I, Cariboo apart within its region is distance: 25 km to a hospital on average, over 30 km for 30% of residents. Health gives Electoral Area I, Cariboo a grade of D.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area I, Cariboo
Life expectancy below the norm
Born around Electoral Area I, Cariboo, 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 ↓
Less upbeat about their health
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
For 30% of homes in Electoral Area I, Cariboo the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 11 km. Getting care ↓
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 3.7 predicts: 76.6 years against 78.3. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Electoral Area I, Cariboo 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Electoral Area I, Cariboo’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.
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.
Getting to hospital from Electoral Area I, Cariboo: 25 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Electoral Area I, Cariboo, weighted by who lives there.
From Electoral Area I, Cariboo 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. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 11 km, while the average resident is 25 km away.
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.
1.7 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s dot is marked, under the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.7, the expected figure is 78.3 years, and Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s region falls below with 76.6. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (9 of 10, median 78.5 years). Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $87,000, more than in most regions, yet lives here are shorter than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
High blood pressure for 26% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 41% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% to 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.
Health in the places around Electoral Area I, Cariboo
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area I, Cariboo | 25 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
| Electoral Area A, Cariboo 7.8 km | 8.0 km | 39% | 76.6 | C− |
| Quesnel 10 km | 2.1 km | 39% | 76.6 | C |
| Electoral Area B, Cariboo 19 km | 11 km | 39% | 76.6 | C− |
Around Electoral Area I, Cariboo the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Quesnel is the closest to care, 2.1 km to Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s 25 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Electoral Area I, Cariboo itself is the trip to care.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Electoral Area I, Cariboo
How healthy is Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 20% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
For the health region that includes Electoral Area I, Cariboo, women can expect 79.5 years and men 74.0 (2022/2024).
How far is Electoral Area I, Cariboo from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Electoral Area I, Cariboo live: 25 km to a clinic, 25 km to a pharmacy.
How is Electoral Area I, Cariboo’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 I, Cariboo’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).