Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0Life expectancy around Cumberland is 79.5 years, 2.0 less than for the typical Canadian town
In the health survey, 54% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than British Columbia’s 50%. What sets Cumberland apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 8.6 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Cumberland a grade of B+, #137 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,226 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Cumberland
Behind regions as deprived
Set against regions as deprived (2.8), Cumberland’s region loses years: 79.5 where the trend says 81.4. For its deprivation ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 24% of adults, diabetes for 6.6%. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Cumberland 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: #137 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,226 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.9 years short of the trend
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Cumberland’s lies below the line.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.8 would suggest 81.4 years, but Cumberland’s region stops at 79.5. Each of the 10 regions scored most like it does better, with a median of 81.2.
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 24% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.6%
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, 29%, tops British Columbia (25%).
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.
From Cumberland, a hospital is 8.6 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Cumberland’s own, not the region’s.
Cumberland is further out than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
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
Ranked 11th of 16 in British Columbia: the regions span 76.6 to 86.8 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Cumberland’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in British Columbia: 51% to 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 beats British Columbia as well: 52% very good or excellent to 49%, with 22% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Cumberland comes 31st of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,876 to 5,074 people, median 3.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westdale South ON B+ | 4,931 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | Westmount AB B+ | 4,961 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 3 | Altona MB B | 4,989 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 29 | Roxton Pond QC A | 4,884 | 8.2 km | 57% |
| 30 | Saint-Germain-de-Grantham QC A− | 5,054 | 8.6 km | 61% |
| 31 | Cumberland BC B+ | 4,974 | 8.6 km | 54% |
| 32 | Warwick QC A− | 4,939 | 12 km | 61% |
| 33 | Hastings Highlands ON D | 4,957 | 13 km | 45% |
| 40 | Electoral Area F, Cariboo BC C− | 5,016 | 33 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Cumberland
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland | 8.6 km | 54% | 79.5 | B+ |
| Courtenay 8.8 km | 2.6 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
| Comox 10 km | 1.8 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
| Electoral Area A, Comox Valley 11 km | 14 km | 54% | 79.5 | B+ |
| Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley 14 km | 3.9 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
| Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley 18 km | 13 km | 54% | 79.5 | B+ |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Cumberland’s; read across for the hospital trip. Residents of Comox live nearer a hospital, at 1.8 km against 8.6 km in Cumberland.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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 Cumberland’s own.
Questions about health in Cumberland
What is the life expectancy in Cumberland?
For the health region that includes Cumberland, women can expect 82.3 years and men 76.9 (2022/2024).
How is Cumberland’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 Cumberland’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Cumberland from a hospital?
Residents of Cumberland have a clinic 6.1 km away on average and a pharmacy 6.5 km away, in straight lines.
How healthy is Cumberland?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. Chronic conditions there average 15% 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).