Health in Nakusp · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Nakusp scores better for health than 88% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 55%, ahead of the 50% for British Columbia. Measured from where Nakusp’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 0.8 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Nakusp a grade of A.
British Columbia: 50% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Kootenay-Boundary Health Service Delivery Area
Chronic conditions
14%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Born around Nakusp, a child can expect 2.0 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.9 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
No pharmacy close by
From the average home in Nakusp, a pharmacy is 89 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
A lighter load of illness
High blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (5.5%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Health Grade
Nakusp grades A 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 (55%)Better than 65% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (14%)Better than 89% of Canadian towns
Smokers (9.9%)Better than 92% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (79.5)Better than 34% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (0.8 km)Better than 96% 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.
79.5
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.9
more years expected at 65
11th
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
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 11th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.3
Economic dependency4.3
Ethno-cultural composition1.3
Situational vulnerability3.0
The index is context and never graded: it describes Nakusp’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.
Getting care
From Nakusp, a hospital is 0.8 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Nakusp’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
0.8 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
90 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
89 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Residents of Nakusp 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (5.5%)
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
19%
Arthritis
25%
Diabetes
5.5%
Obese (self-reported)
28%
Mood disorder
17%
Anxiety disorder
11%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
9.8%
Smoke every day
6.5%
Heavy drinking
28%
British Columbia
At 28%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (28% 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.
For its deprivation
The region lives 1.4 years less than its deprivation predicts
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Nakusp’s region shows under the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.0, the expected figure is 80.9 years, and Nakusp’s region falls below with 79.5. It is outlived by 8 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 80.3 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.
Health survey
53% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in British Columbia (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
53%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
48%
Mental health fair or poor
19%
Most days quite a bit stressful
22%
Strong sense of belonging
75%
Satisfied with life
81%
British Columbia
Mental health is no outlier: 48% say very good or excellent (British Columbia: 49%) and 22% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Neighbours
Health in the places around Nakusp
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Nakusp and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Electoral Area K, Central Kootenay live further from a hospital, at 24 km against 0.8 km in Nakusp.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
•
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.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Nakusp alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
Questions about health in Nakusp
What is the life expectancy in Nakusp?
For the health region that includes Nakusp, women can expect 82.8 years and men 76.5 (2022/2024).
How is Nakusp’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Nakusp’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Nakusp?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 14%.
How far is Nakusp from a hospital?
A clinic is 90 km from the average resident of Nakusp and a pharmacy 89 km, as the crow flies.
Photo: Kevstan · CC BY-SA 3.0