Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainLives run shorter around Electoral Area L, Cariboo: 78.8 years, 2.7 below the typical Canadian town’s region
In the health survey, 48% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than British Columbia’s 50%. Closer to home, a hospital is 20 km from the average resident of Electoral Area L, Cariboo, further than the usual 3.7 km. Electoral Area L, Cariboo grades C for health, #228 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,337 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area L, Cariboo
A long way to hospital
Residents of Electoral Area L, Cariboo live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (13 km from its centre of population), and 28% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Shorter lives than its deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 3.1, the trend across regions gives 80.5 years of life; Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s region reaches only 78.8. For its deprivation ↓
Pharmacies far off
From the average home in Electoral Area L, Cariboo, a pharmacy is 20 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Electoral Area L, Cariboo 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. Its place: #228 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,337 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
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.
Getting to hospital from Electoral Area L, Cariboo: 20 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s own, not the region’s.
From Electoral Area L, 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.
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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.7 years behind the trend
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s region is below the line.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Electoral Area L, Cariboo belongs to lives less long than its score of 3.1 predicts: 78.8 years, where the trend gives 80.5. Among the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, every one does better; they centre on 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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.2%
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 33% 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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in British Columbia, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 16 regions in British Columbia, from 76.6 to 86.8 years, this one is 13th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 47% 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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (52% against 49%), while 23% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Electoral Area L, Cariboo is 35th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 5,262 to 5,457 people, median 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 5,386 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 2 | Stonewall MB C | 5,443 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Billings Bridge - Heron Park ON A+ | 5,370 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 33 | Norwood ON C− | 5,308 | 18 km | 47% |
| 34 | Metcalfe ON A− | 5,434 | 18 km | 56% |
| 35 | Electoral Area L, Cariboo BC C | 5,358 | 20 km | 48% |
| 36 | Saint-Jean-de-Matha QC B | 5,415 | 24 km | 56% |
| 37 | Juan de Fuca (Part 1) BC A− | 5,439 | 24 km | 55% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Electoral Area L, Cariboo
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 L, Cariboo | 20 km | 48% | 78.8 | C |
| One Hundred Mile House 13 km | 0.7 km | 48% | 78.8 | B− |
The neighbours all sit in Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. One Hundred Mile House is the closest to care, 0.7 km to Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s 20 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Electoral Area L, Cariboo shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Electoral Area L, Cariboo
How is Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Electoral Area L, Cariboo’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Electoral Area L, Cariboo from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Electoral Area L, Cariboo is 20 km from a clinic and 20 km from a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area L, Cariboo?
For the health region that includes Electoral Area L, Cariboo, women can expect 81.8 years and men 76.0 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Electoral Area L, Cariboo?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
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).