Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Central Okanagan, 52% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 81.0, women 84.1 and men 78.2 (2022/2024). Closer to home, a hospital is 16 km from the average resident of Central Okanagan, further than the usual 3.7 km. Central Okanagan grades B− for health, #177 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,960 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Central Okanagan
Far from a hospital
For 0% of homes in Central Okanagan the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 12 km. Getting care ↓
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Deprivation alone, a score of 2.5, would give Central Okanagan’s region about 82.9 years; it stops at 81.0. 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.
Central Okanagan grades B− 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: #177 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,960 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.
The nearest hospital is 16 km from the average home in Central Okanagan
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Central Okanagan’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Central Okanagan is on the far side.
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 1.9 years less than its deprivation predicts
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Central Okanagan’s region comes out below the trend.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Central Okanagan belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.5 predicts: 81.0 years, where the trend gives 82.9. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 82.9. On income alone, around $81,000 a household, this region would be expected to fare worse than most, yet it lives longer; between regions the link is weak (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 (23%) and diabetes (6.9%)
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 28% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 25% 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
This region is 7th longest-lived of 16 in British Columbia, on a scale from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
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 Central Okanagan’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.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to British Columbia (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
The region’s 48% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of British Columbia’s 49%, with 26% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Central Okanagan is 32nd nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,692 to 4,876 people, median 7.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North End East ON B+ | 4,816 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Central McDougall AB B+ | 4,802 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 3 | Barrhead AB C− | 4,768 | 0.7 km | 48% |
| 30 | Electoral Area D, Fraser-Fort George BC D | 4,802 | 15 km | 39% |
| 31 | Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap BC C | 4,829 | 15 km | 48% |
| 32 | Central Okanagan BC B− | 4,784 | 16 km | 52% |
| 33 | Woodlands County AB D | 4,778 | 17 km | 48% |
| 34 | Electoral Area H, Nanaimo BC C+ | 4,815 | 21 km | 47% |
| 40 | Hampton NB D | 4,754 | 32 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Central Okanagan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Okanagan | 16 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
| Kelowna 9.0 km | 5.6 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Duck Lake 7 9.6 km | 17 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
| Lake Country 14 km | 20 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
| Tsinstikeptum 10 15 km | 3.4 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
Every place around Central Okanagan shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Tsinstikeptum 10 is the closest to care, 3.4 km to Central Okanagan’s 16 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Central Okanagan itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Central Okanagan
How far is Central Okanagan from a hospital?
Residents of Central Okanagan have a clinic 11 km away on average and a pharmacy 6.5 km away, in straight lines.
How is Central Okanagan’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Central Okanagan’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Central Okanagan?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.1 for women, 78.2 for men around Central Okanagan (2022/2024).
How healthy is Central Okanagan?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 16%.
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).