Photo: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner from Wellington, New Zealand · CC BY-SA 2.0Chronic conditions run low around Vancouver: 13% on average, against 17% for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 50% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in British Columbia (50%). Measured from where Vancouver’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.8 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Across the region, life runs to 83.3 years on average: women 86.5, men 80.2, in 2022/2024.
What stands out about health in Vancouver
Smoking runs low
Around Vancouver, only 4.4% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate lower than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Vancouver, a child can expect 1.8 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 22.8 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
A typical home in Vancouver has 42 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.4 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.
Vancouver isn’t graded for health yet
What the grade will weigh: the region’s survey and life expectancy, and the town’s own distance to a hospital, each against 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (16%) and diabetes (6.1%)
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 lower than in the province, at 17% 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.
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
Of the 16 health regions in British Columbia, 4th place goes to this one, between a low of 76.6 and a high of 86.8.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Vancouver’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Vancouver, a hospital is 1.8 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Vancouver, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Vancouver are closer than most of the province: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.0 years behind the trend
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Vancouver’s region is below the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.0, the expected figure is 84.3 years, and Vancouver’s region falls below with 83.3. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (5) and half worse (5), around a median of 83.5. The towns here bring in about $82,000 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.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to British Columbia (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
Mental health trails British Columbia: 46% very good or excellent to 49%, with 27% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Vancouver
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | 1.8 km | 50% | 83.3 | — |
| Riley Park 0.8 km | 1.2 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Mount Pleasant 1.1 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| South Cambie 1.3 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Little Saigon 1.5 km | 1.3 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Fairview 2.3 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Shaughnessy 2.6 km | 1.0 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Vancouver’s regional figures.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Vancouver alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Vancouver
What is the life expectancy in Vancouver?
For the health region that includes Vancouver, women can expect 86.5 years and men 80.2 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Vancouver?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 13%.
Does Vancouver have a Health grade?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Vancouver has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Vancouver from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.0 km from the average resident of Vancouver and a pharmacy 0.4 km, as the crow flies.
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).