Health in Nisga'a · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
For health, Nisga'a sits behind 98% of Canadian towns
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 42% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. Measured from where Nisga'a’s residents live, a hospital is 84 km away on average and 100% of them are over 30 km out. The Health grade for Nisga'a is D−.
British Columbia: 50% · Shared with the rest of the Northwest Health Service Delivery Area: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
21%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Life expectancy in the region around Nisga'a runs 4.5 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.3 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Nisga'a live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (87 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 9.8 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (42% as answered). Health survey ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (10%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Nisga'a grades D− 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 (42%)Better than 3% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (21%)Better than 4% of Canadian towns
Smokers (14%)Better than 39% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (77.0)Better than 7% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (84 km)Better than 2% 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
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.
77.0
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.3
more years expected at 65
14th
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
This region is 14th 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
Residential instability1.6
Economic dependency3.1
Ethno-cultural composition2.7
Situational vulnerability5.0
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Nisga'a’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 84 km from the average home in Nisga'a
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Nisga'a’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
84 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
263 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
83 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
100%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
From Nisga'a that is further than the 4.4 km of the typical town in British Columbia, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in British Columbia: 42% to 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
42%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
44%
Mental health fair or poor
16%
Most days quite a bit stressful
22%
Strong sense of belonging
70%
Satisfied with life
86%
British Columbia
On mental health the region is behind British Columbia, 44% 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.
Conditions and habits
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% diabetes
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
22%
Arthritis
31%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
45%
Mood disorder
16%
Anxiety disorder
11%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
14%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
26%
British Columbia
At 45%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (26% 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
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Nisga'a’s dot is marked, close to the line.
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 3.9, the expected figure is 77.6 years, and Nisga'a’s region matches it closely with 77.0. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (8 of 10, median 78.7 years). Households here earn around $92,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (correlation 0.14).
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.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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 Nisga'a’s own.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about health in Nisga'a
What is the life expectancy in Nisga'a?
Women in Nisga'a’s region live to 79.2 on average and men to 75.0, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Nisga'a from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Nisga'a is 263 km from a clinic and 83 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Nisga'a?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
How is Nisga'a’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Nisga'a’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: Murray Foubister · CC BY-SA 2.0