Health in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Health in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine trails 96% of Canadian towns
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 42% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. Closer to home, a hospital is 19 km from the average resident of Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine, further than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine is D−.
British Columbia: 50% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Northwest Health Service Delivery Area
Chronic conditions
21%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
British Columbia: 15%
Smokers
14%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
British Columbia: 8.9%
Life expectancy
77.0
at birth, 2022/2024
women 79.2 · men 75.0
Nearest hospital
19 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
What stands out · In brief
What stands out about health in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine
Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine’s region sits 4.5 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.3 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 9.8 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 42%. Health survey ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (0.5 km from its centre of population), and 24% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Long-term conditions run high
High blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (10%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine grades D− 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 (42%)Better than 3% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (21%)Better than 4% of Canadian towns
Smokers (14%)Better than 39% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (77.0)Better than 7% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (19 km)Better than 26% 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.
The wider area
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.
77.0
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.3
more years expected at 65
14th
longest of 16 regions in British Columbia
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Richmond Health Service Delivery Area86.8
Fraser North Health Service Delivery Area84.4
North Shore/Coast Garibaldi Health Service Delivery Area84.3
Vancouver Health Service Delivery Area83.3
Fraser South Health Service Delivery Area83.2
South Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area82.7
Okanagan Health Service Delivery Area81.0
East Kootenay Health Service Delivery Area80.5
Fraser East Health Service Delivery Area80.0
Central Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.8
Kootenay-Boundary Health Service Delivery Area79.5
North Vancouver Island Health Service Delivery Area79.5
Thompson/Cariboo Health Service Delivery Area78.8
Northwest Health Service Delivery Area77.0
Northeast Health Service Delivery Area76.9
Northern Interior Health Service Delivery Area76.6
The region comes 14th 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
Residential instability2.5
Economic dependency4.5
Ethno-cultural composition1.5
Situational vulnerability4.8
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Health survey
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 42% 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
Health very good or excellent
42%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
44%
Mental health fair or poor
16%
Most days quite a bit stressful
22%
Strong sense of belonging
70%
Satisfied with life
86%
British Columbia
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 44% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 22% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine: 19 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
19 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
284 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
72 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
24%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine 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 0.5 km, while the average resident is 19 km away.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% diabetes
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
22%
Arthritis
31%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
45%
Mood disorder
16%
Anxiety disorder
11%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
14%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
26%
British Columbia
Self-reported obesity, 45%, tops British Columbia (25%). More adults drink heavily, 26% 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.
For its deprivation
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
At 3.9 on the index, regions tend to reach 77.6 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine belongs to reaches 77.0. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (8 of 10, median 78.7 years). Its towns’ household income, about $92,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s 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.
How to read these numbers
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. 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.
•
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. Only the distances on this page belong to Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
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.
Questions about health in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine?
For the health region that includes Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine, women can expect 79.2 years and men 75.0 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine is 284 km from a clinic and 72 km from a pharmacy.
How is Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine’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 B, Kitimat-Stikine’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0