Photo: Svhartje · CC BY-SA 3.0Swan River’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.7 years: life expectancy 78.8
In the health survey, 51% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, close to Manitoba’s 51%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Swan River is well placed: 0.7 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Swan River grades B− for health, #140 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,060 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Swan River
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Swan River than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 10% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies far off
Picking up a prescription in Swan River takes a trip of 113 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Harder circumstances
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Swan River at 4.7 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Near a hospital
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Swan River: 0.4 km from its centre of population. 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.
Swan River 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: #140 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,060 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 24% of adults in the region, diabetes for 7.9%
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%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (24% against 21%).
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 Swan River: 0.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Swan River’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Swan River are closer than most of the province: the typical town in Manitoba is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health 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
This region is 3rd longest-lived of 5 in Manitoba, on a scale from 68.5 to 80.7 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Swan River’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Swan River’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Swan River’s region is a typical case: 78.8 years at a score of 3.5, where the trend says 79.0. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (5) and half worse (5), around a median of 78.9.
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.
51% 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
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 54% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Manitoba, and 20% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Swan River is 2nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,979 to 4,118 people, median 6.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCauley AB B+ | 4,060 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Swan River MB B− | 4,048 | 0.7 km | 51% |
| 3 | Centremount ON B | 4,053 | 0.8 km | 53% |
| 4 | Parkdale AB B+ | 4,029 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 40 | Mistissini QC | 4,067 | 66 km | – |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Swan River
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swan River | 0.7 km | 51% | 78.8 | B− |
| Minitonas-Bowsman 16 km | 16 km | 51% | 78.8 | C |
| Swan Valley West 16 km | 8.0 km | 51% | 78.8 | C+ |
Every place around Swan River shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Minitonas-Bowsman live further from a hospital, at 16 km against 0.7 km in Swan River.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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 Swan River’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Swan River
What is the life expectancy in Swan River?
For the health region that includes Swan River, women can expect 81.2 years and men 76.6 (2022/2024).
How far is Swan River from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 113 km from the average resident of Swan River, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How is Swan River’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Swan River’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Swan River?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
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).