Photo: A.Davey · CC BY 2.0Expect 79.8 years of life in the region around Ladysmith, 1.7 under the typical Canadian town
In the health survey, 47% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than British Columbia’s 50%. Measured from where Ladysmith’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.7 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Ladysmith grades B for health, #170 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,924 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Ladysmith
Below the trend for its deprivation
At 79.8 years, Ladysmith’s region trails the 81.7 that regions scoring 2.8 on the index typically reach. For its deprivation ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 5.1 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 44% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Ladysmith 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: #170 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,924 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 Ladysmith’s lies below the line.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Ladysmith belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.8 predicts: 79.8 years, where the trend gives 81.7. It trails all 10 of its nearest neighbours on the index, whose median is 81.3.
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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 44% 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
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 46% 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (23%) and diabetes (6.9%)
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 32%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (22% 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.
The nearest hospital is 1.7 km from the average home in Ladysmith
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Ladysmith’s own, not the region’s.
Ladysmith is closer in 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 regions in British Columbia
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
This region is 10th longest-lived of 16 in British Columbia, on a scale from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
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 Ladysmith’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Ladysmith comes 9th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 9,787 to 10,075 people, median 3.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-des-Fées QC B+ | 10,075 | 0.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | South Cambie BC A+ | 9,846 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Vincent ON B | 10,011 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 7 | M-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 9,901 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 8 | Roberval QC A+ | 9,828 | 1.7 km | 66% |
| 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% |
| 40 | Shediac NB C | 9,849 | 24 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Ladysmith
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladysmith | 1.7 km | 47% | 79.8 | B |
| Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley 4.2 km | 4.3 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area G, Cowichan Valley 5.5 km | 5.5 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 13 km | 11 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
Only the hospital column is local here: Ladysmith and its neighbours share one health region’s survey. Residents of Electoral Area A, Nanaimo live further from a hospital, at 11 km against 1.7 km in Ladysmith.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Ladysmith shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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 Ladysmith
How is Ladysmith’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 Ladysmith’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Ladysmith?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Ladysmith?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.6 for women, 77.1 for men around Ladysmith (2022/2024).
How far is Ladysmith from a hospital?
Residents of Ladysmith have a clinic 21 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.0 km away, in straight lines.
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).