Life expectancy around Electoral Area B, Nanaimo is 79.8 years, 1.7 less than for 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%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s is long: 12 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Electoral Area B, Nanaimo grades C+ for health, #206 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,090 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area B, Nanaimo
Behind regions as deprived
Deprivation alone, a score of 2.8, would give Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s region about 81.7 years; it stops at 79.8. For its deprivation ↓
A long way to hospital
Distance is Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 14 km. Getting care ↓
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.
Electoral Area B, Nanaimo 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: #206 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,090 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
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s region shows under the trend.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Electoral Area B, Nanaimo belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.8 predicts: 79.8 years, where the trend gives 81.7. Each of the 10 regions scored most like it does better, with a median of 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.
Getting to hospital from Electoral Area B, Nanaimo: 12 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Electoral Area B, Nanaimo is on the far side.
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.
44% 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
On mental health the region is behind British Columbia, 46% 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 (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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 32% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% to 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.
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.
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
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Electoral Area B, Nanaimo is 29th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,609 to 4,808 people, median 6.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central McDougall AB B+ | 4,802 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 2 | Barrhead AB C− | 4,768 | 0.7 km | 48% |
| 3 | Jasper AB C− | 4,627 | 1.0 km | 48% |
| 27 | Dutton ON C+ | 4,686 | 12 km | 49% |
| 28 | Château-Richer QC A+ | 4,732 | 12 km | 62% |
| 29 | Electoral Area B, Nanaimo BC C+ | 4,702 | 12 km | 47% |
| 30 | Amaranth ON B | 4,808 | 15 km | 51% |
| 31 | Sutton QC A | 4,775 | 15 km | 57% |
| 40 | Hampton NB D | 4,754 | 32 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Electoral Area B, Nanaimo
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area B, Nanaimo | 12 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 9.5 km | 11 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Nanaimo 14 km | 4.2 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley 16 km | 4.3 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo 18 km | 8.2 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
Around Electoral Area B, Nanaimo the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Nanaimo is the closest to care, 4.2 km to Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s 12 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s own.
Questions about health in Electoral Area B, Nanaimo
How healthy is Electoral Area B, Nanaimo?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
How far is Electoral Area B, Nanaimo from a hospital?
Residents of Electoral Area B, Nanaimo have a clinic 9.7 km away on average and a pharmacy 4.1 km away, in straight lines.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area B, Nanaimo?
Women in Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s region live to 82.6 on average and men to 77.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Electoral Area B, Nanaimo’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Electoral Area B, Nanaimo has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
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).