Photo: Eric Friedebach · CC BY 3.0Lives run shorter around Merritt: 78.8 years, 2.7 below the typical Canadian town’s region
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 50% for British Columbia. What sets Merritt apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.7 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Merritt is C+, #207 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,105 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Merritt
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Merritt’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 3.1 predicts: 78.8 years against 80.5. For its deprivation ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Merritt’s neighbourhoods average 4.2 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.
Merritt 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: #207 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,105 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.7 years behind the trend
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Merritt’s lies below the line.
Where residents average 3.1 on the index, regions tend to reach 80.5 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Merritt belongs to trails at 78.8. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median is 80.9 years.
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.
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 13th 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
The index is context and never graded: it describes Merritt’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
23% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.2% diabetes
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 33%, 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 Merritt
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Merritt’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Merritt 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.
47% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in British Columbia (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 better than in the province too: 52% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 23% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Merritt is 9th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,066 to 7,329 people, median 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coronation Park SK B+ | 7,307 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 2 | Raleigh ON B | 7,113 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 3 | Cathedral Village SK B+ | 7,311 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 7 | Fernie BC B+ | 7,086 | 1.5 km | 57% |
| 8 | Chibougamau QC B− | 7,273 | 1.7 km | 65% |
| 9 | Merritt BC C+ | 7,190 | 1.7 km | 48% |
| 10 | Sherbrooke AB B+ | 7,131 | 1.7 km | 51% |
| 11 | Yarmouth NS C− | 7,129 | 1.8 km | 44% |
| 40 | Colborne ON C | 7,216 | 24 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Merritt
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merritt | 1.7 km | 48% | 78.8 | C+ |
| Electoral Area M (Beautiful Nicola Valley - North), Thompson-Nicola 8.9 km | 13 km | 48% | 78.8 | C |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Merritt’s; read across for the hospital trip. Residents of Electoral Area M (Beautiful Nicola Valley - North), Thompson-Nicola live further from a hospital, at 13 km against 1.7 km in Merritt.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Merritt itself is the trip to care.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Merritt
What is the life expectancy in Merritt?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 81.8 for women, 76.0 for men around Merritt (2022/2024).
How healthy is Merritt?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
How is Merritt’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Merritt has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Merritt from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Merritt is 69 km from a clinic and 1.2 km from a pharmacy.
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).