Health in Cowichan · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Lives run shorter around Cowichan: 79.8 years, 1.7 below the typical Canadian town’s region
In the health survey, 47% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than British Columbia’s 50%. Closer to home, a hospital sits 3.5 km from the average resident of Cowichan, about the norm of 3.7 km. Cowichan is a First Nations reserve: a Health grade is possible, an overall grade and a ranking are not. The health survey doesn’t interview people living on reserves, so these regional figures describe the surrounding region, not Cowichan. Cowichan grades B− for health.
British Columbia: 50% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Central Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area
Chronic conditions
16%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Set against regions as deprived (2.8), Cowichan’s region loses years: 79.8 where the trend says 81.7. For its deprivation ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 5.1 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 44%. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Cowichan 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.
Very good or excellent health (47%)Better than 18% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (16%)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 76% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (79.8)Better than 37% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (3.5 km)Better than 78% of Canadian towns
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.
For its deprivation
1.9 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Cowichan’s region shows under the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Cowichan belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.8 predicts: 79.8 years, where the trend gives 81.7. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median 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.
Health survey
44% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in 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
Health very good or excellent
44%
Health fair or poor
17%
Mental health very good or excellent
46%
Mental health fair or poor
17%
Most days quite a bit stressful
22%
Strong sense of belonging
59%
Satisfied with life
82%
British Columbia
On mental health the region is behind British Columbia, 46% very good or excellent to 49%; 22% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Conditions and habits
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
High blood pressure
23%
Arthritis
31%
Diabetes
6.9%
Obese (self-reported)
32%
Mood disorder
15%
Anxiety disorder
14%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
11%
Smoke every day
8.3%
Heavy drinking
22%
British Columbia
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 32% 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.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 3.5 km from the average home in Cowichan
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Cowichan’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
3.5 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
2.0 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
2.1 km
residents’ average distance
0.8 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
That is close to the 4.4 km of the typical town in British Columbia (the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km), as Cowichan goes.
Around Cowichan the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Shawnigan live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 3.5 km in Cowichan.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
•
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 Cowichan’s own.
•
Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
•
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 Cowichan
How is Cowichan’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Cowichan’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens. As a First Nations reserve it gets no overall grade, and the survey doesn’t interview people on reserves, so the regional figures don’t describe it.
How healthy is Cowichan?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Cowichan?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.6 for women, 77.1 for men around Cowichan (2022/2024).
How far is Cowichan from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Cowichan is 2.0 km from a clinic and 2.1 km from a pharmacy.
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0