Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainLife expectancy around Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley is 79.8 years, 1.7 less than for the typical Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 47%, behind the 50% for British Columbia. Closer to home, a hospital is 5.3 km from the average resident of Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley, further than the usual 3.7 km. Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley grades B− for health, #184 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,991 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Set against regions as deprived (2.8), Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s region loses years: 79.8 where the trend says 81.7. For its deprivation ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 5.1 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 44% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
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 E, Cowichan Valley 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: #184 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,991 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 1.9 years of life
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s region’s dot is under the line.
Where residents average 2.8 on the index, regions tend to reach 81.7 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley belongs to trails at 79.8. All 10 regions closest to it on the index live longer; their middle figure is 81.3 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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 44% 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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (46% against 49%), while 22% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Self-reported obesity, 32%, tops British Columbia (25%). More adults drink heavily, 22% to the province’s 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.
The nearest hospital is 5.3 km from the average home in Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s own, not the region’s.
Nothing unusual for Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley here: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 2.4 km, while the average resident is 5.3 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.
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
The region comes 10th of 16 in British Columbia, where life expectancy runs from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley comes 23rd of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,398 to 4,567 people, median 4.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Country Hills ON A | 4,561 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | Eastmount ON B+ | 4,496 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 3 | Golden BC B+ | 4,433 | 0.7 km | 57% |
| 21 | Queensland AB A | 4,452 | 4.4 km | 56% |
| 22 | Crossroads ON A | 4,525 | 4.8 km | 51% |
| 23 | Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley BC B− | 4,482 | 5.3 km | 47% |
| 24 | New Maryland NB C | 4,455 | 5.6 km | 45% |
| 25 | Oxford AB B | 4,460 | 6.3 km | 51% |
| 40 | Casselman ON C− | 4,535 | 32 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley
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 E, Cowichan Valley | 5.3 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Cowichan 1.2 km | 3.5 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Duncan 1.5 km | 1.7 km | 47% | 79.8 | B |
| North Cowichan 5.1 km | 3.6 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Cowichan Bay 7.3 km | 9.8 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Cobble Hill 12 km | 14 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
| Shawnigan 13 km | 15 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
Same region, same survey: Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Shawnigan is the furthest from care, 15 km to Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s 5.3 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- 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.
Questions about health in Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley
How healthy is Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley?
Women in Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’s region live to 82.6 on average and men to 77.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley’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 E, Cowichan Valley’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley from a hospital?
A clinic is 4.6 km from the average resident of Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley and a pharmacy 4.1 km, as the crow flies.
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).