Photo: Gerry Thomasen from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0People in Nanaimo’s health region live to 79.8 on average, 1.7 years short of the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 47% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. Measured from where Nanaimo’s residents live, a hospital is 4.2 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. The Health grade for Nanaimo is B−, #180 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,974 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Nanaimo
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Nanaimo’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 2.8 predicts: 79.8 years against 81.7. For its deprivation ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 5.1 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 44%. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 5.4 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.2 km off, Nanaimo is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Nanaimo 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: #180 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,974 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: 1.9 years behind the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Nanaimo’s region comes out below the trend.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.8, Nanaimo’s region’s 79.8 years sit under the line’s 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.
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
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.
From Nanaimo, a hospital is 4.2 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Nanaimo’s own, not the region’s.
For distance to care Nanaimo is ordinary: 4.4 km is the typical figure in British Columbia, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 1.1 km, while the average resident is 4.2 km away.
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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Self-reported obesity, 32%, tops British Columbia (25%). More adults drink heavily, 22% to the province’s 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 across the 16 health 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
Ranked 10th of 16 in British Columbia: the regions span 76.6 to 86.8 years at birth.
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 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.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Nanaimo comes 25th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 81,611 to 151,972 people, median 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Chomedey QC A | 81,813 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 23 | Waterloo ON A | 142,450 | 4.1 km | 53% |
| 24 | Maple Ridge BC A | 105,925 | 4.1 km | 48% |
| 25 | Nanaimo BC B− | 111,845 | 4.2 km | 47% |
| 26 | Prince George BC C− | 85,944 | 4.6 km | 39% |
| 27 | Cape Breton NS C− | 106,752 | 4.8 km | 49% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanaimo | 4.2 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo 3.4 km | 8.2 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Lantzville 9.9 km | 11 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 14 km | 11 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area B, Nanaimo 14 km | 12 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
| Fairwinds 17 km | 11 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
The neighbours all sit in Nanaimo’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Electoral Area B, Nanaimo is the furthest from care, 12 km to Nanaimo’s 4.2 km.
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 Nanaimo itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
Questions about health in Nanaimo
How is Nanaimo’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Nanaimo’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Nanaimo?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Nanaimo?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Nanaimo’s health region only: 82.6 years for women and 77.1 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Nanaimo from a hospital?
For everyday care, Nanaimo’s residents are 1.2 km from a pharmacy and 2.5 km from a clinic on average.
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).