Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Lives run shorter around Kitimat: 77.0 years, 4.5 below the typical Canadian town’s region
In the health survey, 42% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than British Columbia’s 50%. For Kitimat itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.7 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Kitimat a grade of C−, #241 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,433 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Kitimat
Less upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 9.8 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (42% as answered). Health survey ↓
A heavier load of illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 10%. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Kitimat 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: #241 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,433 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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 42% very good or excellent, against 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
On mental health the region is behind British Columbia, 44% 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (10%)
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
At 45%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (26% against 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Kitimat’s region comes out on the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Kitimat’s region is a typical case: 77.0 years at a score of 3.9, where the trend says 77.6. Even beside regions as deprived, it lags: 8 of its 10 closest matches reach further, their median 78.7 years. Judged by income, around $92,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
The nearest hospital is 1.7 km from the average home in Kitimat
Straight-line distances from each part of Kitimat, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Kitimat are closer 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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 14th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Kitimat’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Kitimat is 10th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (9,886 to 10,175 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-des-Fées QC B+ | 10,075 | 0.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | Vincent ON B | 10,011 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 3 | Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills ON A | 9,909 | 1.2 km | 50% |
| 8 | M-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 9,901 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 9 | Ladysmith BC B | 9,926 | 1.7 km | 47% |
| 10 | Kitimat BC C− | 10,019 | 1.7 km | 42% |
| 11 | Caledonia-Fairbank ON A | 10,037 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 12 | Argyle North SK B+ | 9,971 | 2.0 km | 49% |
| 40 | Saint-Félicien QC A− | 10,143 | 23 km | 66% |
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
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Kitimat alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
Questions about health in Kitimat
What is the life expectancy in Kitimat?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 79.2 for women, 75.0 for men around Kitimat (2022/2024).
How healthy is Kitimat?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
How is Kitimat’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Kitimat has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Kitimat from a hospital?
A clinic is 214 km from the average resident of Kitimat and a pharmacy 1.7 km, as the crow flies.
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).