Photo: tuchodi from Fort St. John, BC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Lives run shorter around Electoral Area B, Peace River: 76.9 years, 4.6 below the typical Canadian town’s region
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 43% very good or excellent, against 50% in British Columbia. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Electoral Area B, Peace River live 47 km from a hospital on average, and 50% of them more than 30 km. Health gives Electoral Area B, Peace River a grade of D, #247 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,484 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area B, Peace River
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Electoral Area B, Peace River’s own health question: 50% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 29 km. Getting care ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Even once age is allowed for, 8.9 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (44% as answered). Health survey ↓
Pharmacies far off
From the average home in Electoral Area B, Peace River, a pharmacy is 47 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.0 out of 5, Electoral Area B, Peace River sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
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.
Electoral Area B, Peace River 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.
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: #247 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,484 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.
The nearest hospital is 47 km from the average home in Electoral Area B, Peace River
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Electoral Area B, Peace River’s own, not the region’s.
From Electoral Area B, Peace River 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.
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.
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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (42% against 49%), while 25% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 15th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Electoral Area B, Peace River’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 0.8 years short of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Electoral Area B, Peace River’s region comes out below the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.9, the expected figure is 77.7 years, and Electoral Area B, Peace River’s region falls below with 76.9. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 78.7 years. Judged by income, around $98,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (20%) and diabetes (6.4%)
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 35% of adults against 25% for British Columbia.
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.
Electoral Area B, Peace River is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 5,701 to 5,926 people, median 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vieux-Québec—Cap-Blanc—Colline parlementaire QC A+ | 5,764 | 0.7 km | 62% |
| 2 | Central Frederick ON A | 5,895 | 0.8 km | 53% |
| 3 | Boyle Street AB B+ | 5,862 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 38 | Waterloo QC A | 5,714 | 17 km | 57% |
| 39 | Osoyoos BC B− | 5,724 | 18 km | 52% |
| 40 | Electoral Area B, Peace River BC D | 5,814 | 47 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Electoral Area B, Peace River alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- 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.
Questions about health in Electoral Area B, Peace River
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area B, Peace River?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Electoral Area B, Peace River’s health region only: 79.5 years for women and 74.4 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Electoral Area B, Peace River from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Electoral Area B, Peace River live: 47 km to a clinic, 47 km to a pharmacy.
How healthy is Electoral Area B, Peace River?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 17%.
How is Electoral Area B, Peace River’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Electoral Area B, Peace River’s homes are from a hospital, 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).