Photo: Krazytea · CC BY-SA 4.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Pembina’s health region
Women in the region live to 82.9 and men to 78.7, 80.7 years taken together (2022/2024). Closer to home, a hospital is 8.9 km from the average resident of Pembina, further than the usual 3.7 km. Pembina grades B− for health, #137 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,054 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Pembina
Outliving the trend for its deprivation
For a deprivation score of 3.7, the trend across regions gives 78.3 years of life; Pembina’s region reaches 80.7. For its deprivation ↓
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.
Pembina grades B− 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: #137 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,054 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.
2.4 years above the line for regions this deprived
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Pembina’s region shows above the trend.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Pembina’s region beats it: 80.7 years against the 78.3 the trend gives a score of 3.7. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, none lives longer; the middle of the group is 78.2 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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.3%
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 40%, self-reported obesity is above Manitoba’s 36%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Getting to hospital from Pembina: 8.9 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Pembina’s own, not the region’s.
Pembina is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Manitoba, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The centre of population is 0.6 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 8.9 km. The clinic list is thin in Manitoba: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
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.
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
No region of the 5 in Manitoba lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 68.5, a gap of 12.2 years.
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 Pembina’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Manitoba (52%)
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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Manitoba (56% against 52%), while 20% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Pembina comes 23rd of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 2,587 people, median 4.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Commercial Core ON A | 2,581 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Rimbey AB C+ | 2,502 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 3 | Elmwood AB B+ | 2,522 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 21 | Castlemore Estates ON A− | 2,587 | 5.4 km | 49% |
| 22 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC A | 2,536 | 8.3 km | 55% |
| 23 | Pembina MB B− | 2,502 | 8.9 km | 51% |
| 24 | Dufferin MB B− | 2,587 | 9.1 km | 51% |
| 25 | Hatley QC A | 2,512 | 9.8 km | 57% |
| 40 | North Frontenac ON B− | 2,515 | 47 km | 53% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Pembina itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Pembina
How far is Pembina from a hospital?
Residents of Pembina have a pharmacy 8.7 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Pembina?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.9 for women, 78.7 for men around Pembina (2022/2024).
How healthy is Pembina?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
How is Pembina’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Pembina’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).