Photo: Canuckle · CC0Richmond’s region outlives the typical Canadian town by 5.3 years: life expectancy 86.8
In the health survey, 48% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, close to British Columbia’s 50%. Measured from where Richmond’s residents live, a hospital is 2.8 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. Richmond grades A for health, #106 of 254 in British Columbia and #808 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Richmond
A region that smokes less
The age-standardised smoking rate around Richmond is well below the typical town’s; 5.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 1.9 on the deprivation index typically live 84.8 years; Richmond’s region, at 86.8, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Richmond can reach 16 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.7 km off. 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.
Richmond grades A 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: #106 of 254 in British Columbia and #808 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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.3% diabetes
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, 13%, trails British Columbia (25%). Fewer adults drink heavily, 8.1% 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.
The region lives 2.0 years longer than its deprivation predicts
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Richmond’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 1.9, the expected figure is 84.8 years, and Richmond’s region does better with 86.8. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes first; their median is 83.5 years. A household income of about $79,000, modest for a region, comes with longer lives than in most regions; across regions the two barely move together (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.
Getting to hospital from Richmond: 2.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Richmond, weighted by who lives there.
From Richmond that is nearer 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.
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
No region of the 16 in British Columbia lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 76.6, a gap of 10.2 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Richmond’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.
Self-rated health much as in British Columbia: 49% 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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (53% against 49%), while 20% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Richmond is 5th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (105,925 to 243,107 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 2 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 3 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 4 | Milton ON A | 157,345 | 2.8 km | 54% |
| 5 | Richmond BC A | 239,584 | 2.8 km | 48% |
| 6 | Oshawa ON B+ | 213,592 | 2.9 km | 50% |
| 7 | Coquitlam BC A | 173,599 | 2.9 km | 48% |
| 40 | Terrebonne QC B+ | 126,872 | 9.7 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Richmond
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | 2.8 km | 48% | 86.8 | A |
| Marpole 6.0 km | 3.5 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Oakridge 7.8 km | 2.0 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Sunset 7.8 km | 1.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Kerrisdale 8.0 km | 2.9 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Victoria-Fraserview 8.7 km | 1.4 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Musqueam 2 9.3 km | 4.9 km | 50% | 83.3 | A |
Across a regional line, Marpole has its own figures: life expectancy 83.3, against 86.8 here.
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 Richmond itself is the trip to care.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
Questions about health in Richmond
What is the life expectancy in Richmond?
Women in Richmond’s region live to 89.0 on average and men to 84.4, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Richmond’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Richmond’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Richmond?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
How far is Richmond from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Richmond is 1.6 km from a clinic and 0.7 km from a pharmacy.
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).