Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Life expectancy around Kent is 80.0 years, 1.5 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 47% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Kent’s is long: 15 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Kent a grade of B−, #198 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,051 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Kent
Far from a hospital
Distance is Kent’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 16 km. Getting care ↓
No pharmacy close by
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 15 km from the average home in Kent, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Less upbeat about their health
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.3 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 48%. 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.
Kent 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: #198 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,051 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 15 km from the average home in Kent
Straight-line distances from each part of Kent, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Kent travel further than most of the province: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 48% very good or excellent, against 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 is no outlier: 48% say very good or excellent (British Columbia: 49%) and 23% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.5 years behind the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Kent’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.8, Kent’s region’s 80.0 years sit under the line’s 81.5. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (9 of 10, median 81.2 years). Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $88,000 a household, above most regions’, with a life expectancy below most; income and lifespan correlate at only 0.14 across regions.
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 (19%) and diabetes (8.9%)
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
Self-reported obesity, 35%, 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.
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
The region comes 9th 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Kent’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.
Kent is 38th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (6,965 to 7,245 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raleigh ON B | 7,113 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 2 | Perth ON B | 6,972 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 3 | Devon AB B+ | 6,965 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 36 | Shannon QC A+ | 7,088 | 13 km | 62% |
| 37 | Carlisle ON B− | 7,161 | 14 km | 53% |
| 38 | Kent BC B− | 7,093 | 15 km | 47% |
| 39 | Colborne ON C | 7,216 | 24 km | 49% |
| 40 | Algoma, Unorganized, North Part ON D− | 7,008 | 25 km | 46% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Kent
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | 15 km | 47% | 80.0 | B− |
| Rosedale 5.3 km | 15 km | 47% | 80.0 | B− |
| Harrison Hot Springs 6.4 km | 20 km | 47% | 80.0 | C+ |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser Valley 14 km | 10 km | 47% | 80.0 | B− |
| Skowkale 16 km | 3.7 km | 47% | 80.0 | B |
| Chilliwack 17 km | 5.1 km | 47% | 80.0 | B |
| Electoral Area E, Fraser Valley 18 km | 12 km | 47% | 80.0 | B− |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Kent’s regional figures. Residents of Skowkale live nearer a hospital, at 3.7 km against 15 km in Kent.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Kent itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
Questions about health in Kent
How is Kent’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Kent’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Kent from a hospital?
For everyday care, Kent’s residents are 15 km from a pharmacy and 15 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Kent?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 17%.
What is the life expectancy in Kent?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.9 for women, 77.2 for men around Kent (2022/2024).
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).