Photo: J Hazard · CC BY-SA 3.0On health, Armstrong falls short of 87% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 50% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Manitoba (51%). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Armstrong’s is long: 17 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Armstrong a grade of D.
What stands out about health in Armstrong
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Armstrong runs 3.0 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 20.2 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Armstrong than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Far from a hospital
Residents of Armstrong live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (18 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
From the average home in Armstrong, a pharmacy is 21 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. 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.
Armstrong 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.
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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 regions in Manitoba
Regional life expectancy in Manitoba, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Of the 5 health regions in Manitoba, 4th place goes to this one, between a low of 68.5 and a high of 80.7.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Armstrong’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
High blood pressure for 29% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.8%
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, 43%, tops Manitoba (36%). More adults drink heavily, 29% to the province’s 21%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
From Armstrong, a hospital is 17 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Armstrong’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Manitoba and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Armstrong is on the far side. Few clinics are listed in Manitoba, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
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.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 0.9 years more here
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Armstrong’s region sits above the trend line through 102 regions.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Armstrong’s region beats it: 78.5 years against the 77.6 the trend gives a score of 3.9. The 10 regions closest to it on the index split evenly around it, 5 above and 5 below; their median is 78.5 years. A household income of about $84,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Manitoba: 49% to 52%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 49% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Manitoba, and 17% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Armstrong
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armstrong | 17 km | 50% | 78.5 | D |
| Teulon 19 km | 0.5 km | 50% | 78.5 | C |
Armstrong and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Teulon live nearer a hospital, at 0.5 km against 17 km in Armstrong.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Armstrong shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
Questions about health in Armstrong
How is Armstrong’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Armstrong: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Armstrong?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 81.3 for women, 76.0 for men around Armstrong (2022/2024).
How far is Armstrong from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Armstrong is 21 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
How healthy is Armstrong?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 20%.
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).