Photo: Vince pahkala · CC BY-SA 3.0For health, St. Laurent sits behind 95% of Canadian towns
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 50% very good or excellent, 51% for Manitoba. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of St. Laurent live 48 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Health gives St. Laurent a grade of D.
What stands out about health in St. Laurent
Life expectancy below the norm
St. Laurent’s region sits 3.0 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 20.2 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is St. Laurent’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 48 km. Getting care ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around St. Laurent is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
From the average home in St. Laurent, a pharmacy is 47 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
St. Laurent 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
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Manitoba, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 4th of 5 in Manitoba: the regions span 68.5 to 80.7 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where St. Laurent’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.
Getting to hospital from St. Laurent: 48 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of St. Laurent, weighted by who lives there.
St. Laurent is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Manitoba, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. 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.
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
More adults report obesity than across Manitoba: 43%, the province 36%. At 29%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 21%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Longer lives than deprivation would give: 0.9 years ahead of the trend
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; St. Laurent’s region sits above the trend line through 102 regions.
Across Canada’s 102 health regions, life expectancy falls as deprivation rises (correlation −0.83). For a region whose residents average 3.9 on the index, the line expects 77.6 years; St. Laurent’s region reaches 78.5. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (5) and half worse (5), around a median of 78.5. Its towns’ household income, about $84,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s 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.
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Manitoba (52%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Manitoba (49% against 52%), while 17% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- 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 St. Laurent’s own.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- 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 St. Laurent
How far is St. Laurent from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 47 km from the average resident of St. Laurent, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in St. Laurent?
For the health region that includes St. Laurent, women can expect 81.3 years and men 76.0 (2022/2024).
How healthy is St. Laurent?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
How is St. Laurent’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so St. Laurent has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
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).