Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0Expect 79.8 years of life in the region around Shawnigan, 1.7 under 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%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Shawnigan’s is long: 15 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Shawnigan is C+, #213 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,146 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Shawnigan
Hospital care at a distance
For 0% of homes in Shawnigan the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 16 km. Getting care ↓
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
For a deprivation score of 2.8, the trend across regions gives 81.7 years of life; Shawnigan’s region reaches only 79.8. 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 ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Shawnigan grades C+ 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: #213 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,146 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.
From Shawnigan, a hospital is 15 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Shawnigan, weighted by who lives there.
Shawnigan is further out than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
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.
Behind regions as deprived by 1.9 years of life
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Shawnigan’s region’s dot is under the line.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.8, Shawnigan’s region’s 79.8 years sit under the line’s 81.7. It sits at the foot of the 10 regions closest to it on the index, which centre on 81.3 years.
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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in British Columbia: 44% to 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.
23% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 6.9% diabetes
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 32% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% to 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 10th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Shawnigan’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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Shawnigan comes 35th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (9,742 to 10,062 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Cambie BC A+ | 9,846 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 2 | Vincent ON B | 10,011 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 3 | Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills ON A | 9,909 | 1.2 km | 50% |
| 33 | Thamesford ON C+ | 9,755 | 11 km | 49% |
| 34 | Electoral Area C (Puntledge - Black Creek), Comox Valley BC B+ | 9,803 | 13 km | 54% |
| 35 | Shawnigan BC C+ | 9,903 | 15 km | 47% |
| 36 | Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier QC A+ | 9,830 | 16 km | 62% |
| 37 | Malahide ON C+ | 9,995 | 18 km | 49% |
| 40 | Shediac NB C | 9,849 | 24 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Shawnigan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnigan | 15 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley 6.6 km | 12 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Cobble Hill 7.0 km | 14 km | 47% | 79.8 | C+ |
| Cowichan Bay 9.6 km | 9.8 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Cowichan 13 km | 3.5 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley 13 km | 5.3 km | 47% | 79.8 | B− |
| Duncan 15 km | 1.7 km | 47% | 79.8 | B |
Around Shawnigan the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Duncan is the closest to care, 1.7 km to Shawnigan’s 15 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Shawnigan shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
Questions about health in Shawnigan
How far is Shawnigan from a hospital?
For everyday care, Shawnigan’s residents are 3.5 km from a pharmacy and 7.7 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Shawnigan?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Shawnigan’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Shawnigan’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Shawnigan?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Shawnigan’s health region only: 82.6 years for women and 77.1 for men (2022/2024).
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).