Photo: CanadianEman · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Nelson’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 4.6 years: life expectancy 76.9
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 43% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. For Fort Nelson itself the measure is access, and it lags: 8.1 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Fort Nelson a grade of C, #223 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,283 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Fort Nelson
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 8.9 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (44% as answered). Health survey ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Fort Nelson’s neighbourhoods average 4.8 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Fort Nelson 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: #223 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,283 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in British Columbia: 44% to 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 42% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 25% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Life expectancy across the 16 health regions in British Columbia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in British Columbia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 15th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Fort Nelson’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 0.8 years short of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Fort Nelson’s region comes out below the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.9, the expected figure is 77.7 years, and Fort Nelson’s region falls below with 76.9. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 78.7. Households here earn around $98,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (correlation 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.
20% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 6.4% diabetes
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
At 35%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 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.
Getting to hospital from Fort Nelson: 8.1 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Fort Nelson, weighted by who lives there.
Fort Nelson is further out than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.6 km, while the average resident is 8.1 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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Fort Nelson comes 29th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,083 to 4,206 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Pocatière QC A | 4,206 | 0.9 km | 60% |
| 2 | Sunalta AB A+ | 4,151 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 3 | Balfour ON B | 4,171 | 1.0 km | 53% |
| 27 | Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges QC A+ | 4,083 | 7.1 km | 62% |
| 28 | Island Lakes MB B | 4,148 | 7.1 km | 52% |
| 29 | Fort Nelson BC C | 4,144 | 8.1 km | 43% |
| 30 | Spring Valley ON B− | 4,175 | 8.8 km | 53% |
| 31 | North Norfolk MB B− | 4,084 | 9.1 km | 51% |
| 40 | Lac-Etchemin QC B | 4,089 | 31 km | 59% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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 Fort Nelson’s own.
Questions about health in Fort Nelson
What is the life expectancy in Fort Nelson?
For the health region that includes Fort Nelson, women can expect 79.5 years and men 74.4 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Fort Nelson?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
How far is Fort Nelson from a hospital?
Residents of Fort Nelson have a clinic 8.0 km away on average and a pharmacy 8.2 km away, in straight lines.
How is Fort Nelson’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 Fort Nelson’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
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).