Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Very good or excellent health for 52% of adults in Oliver’s health region
Women in the region live to 84.1 and men to 78.2, 81.0 years taken together (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Oliver is well placed: 1.2 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Oliver a grade of B+, #140 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,275 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Oliver
Behind regions as deprived
Deprivation alone, a score of 2.5, would give Oliver’s region about 82.9 years; it stops at 81.0. For its deprivation ↓
A hospital close by
Measured from where people live, Oliver is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 1.1 km away. Getting care ↓
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.
Oliver 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: #140 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,275 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.
1.9 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Oliver’s dot is marked, under the line.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.5, Oliver’s region’s 81.0 years sit under the line’s 82.9. It is outlived by 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 82.9 years. The towns here bring in about $81,000 a household, below the typical region, while living longer than it; that is why income, which correlates at just 0.14 with life expectancy across regions, isn’t the measure.
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 Oliver: 1.2 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Oliver, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Oliver is on the near 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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.9%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 28%, tops British Columbia (25%). More adults drink heavily, 25% 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
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in British Columbia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 7th 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
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Oliver’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
About as many rate their health highly here as in British Columbia: 51% and 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health is no outlier: 48% say very good or excellent (British Columbia: 49%) and 26% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Oliver is 3rd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,175 to 5,348 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Didsbury AB A+ | 5,185 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 2 | Waverley Heights MB B+ | 5,252 | 1.1 km | 52% |
| 3 | Oliver BC B+ | 5,262 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 4 | Southdale ON A | 5,277 | 1.2 km | 53% |
| 5 | Uplands SK B+ | 5,273 | 1.2 km | 49% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Oliver
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver | 1.2 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen 3.6 km | 6.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Osoyoos 1 4.4 km | 3.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen 13 km | 7.7 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Osoyoos 19 km | 18 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
Oliver and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Osoyoos is the furthest from care, 18 km to Oliver’s 1.2 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Oliver itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
Questions about health in Oliver
How is Oliver’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Oliver’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Oliver?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Oliver’s health region only: 84.1 years for women and 78.2 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Oliver from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Oliver is 32 km from a clinic and 0.8 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Oliver?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
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).