Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places match Mount Pleasant for health: it beats almost every Canadian town
Across the region, 50% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in British Columbia (50%). Closer to home, a hospital is just 0.7 km from the average resident of Mount Pleasant, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Mount Pleasant a grade of A+, #11 of 254 in British Columbia and #57 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Mount Pleasant
Fewer smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Mount Pleasant is well below the typical town’s; 4.4% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Less chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 16% of adults, diabetes for 6.1%. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Mount Pleasant runs 1.8 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 22.8 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A hospital close by
Measured from where people live, Mount Pleasant is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 0.7 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.
Mount Pleasant 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: #11 of 254 in British Columbia and #57 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.
High blood pressure for 16% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
At 17%, self-reported obesity is below British Columbia’s 25%.
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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
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
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
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Mount Pleasant’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Mount Pleasant, a hospital is 0.7 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Mount Pleasant’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Mount Pleasant 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.
1.0 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; Mount Pleasant’s dot is marked, under the line.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.0 would suggest 84.3 years, but Mount Pleasant’s region stops at 83.3. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 83.5 years. Judged by income, around $82,000 a household, the region would look poorly placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one outlives 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.
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
On mental health the region is behind British Columbia, 46% very good or excellent to 49%; 27% 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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Mount Pleasant comes 1st of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 34,565 to 39,668 people, median 2.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Pleasant BC A+ | 37,091 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 2 | Côte-Saint-Luc QC A | 37,901 | 1.0 km | 54% |
| 3 | Cecil-P.-Newman QC A | 34,965 | 1.5 km | 54% |
| 40 | Panorama Ridge BC A | 36,473 | 6.9 km | 50% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Mount Pleasant
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pleasant | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Strathcona 1.7 km | 2.2 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Little Saigon 1.8 km | 1.3 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Riley Park 1.9 km | 1.2 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Yaletown 2.0 km | 1.1 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| South Cambie 2.2 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Fairview 2.4 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Mount Pleasant from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does.
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. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Mount Pleasant’s own.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
Questions about health in Mount Pleasant
How is Mount Pleasant’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Mount Pleasant has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Mount Pleasant?
Women in Mount Pleasant’s region live to 86.5 on average and men to 80.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Mount Pleasant?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 13%.
How far is Mount Pleasant from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Mount Pleasant live: 0.8 km to a clinic, 0.3 km to 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).