Photo: VirdenPioneers · CC BY-SA 4.0Lives run shorter around Virden: 78.8 years, 2.7 below the typical Canadian town’s region
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Manitoba, 51% against 51%. For Virden itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.1 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Virden a grade of B−, #144 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,075 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Virden
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Virden is well above the typical town’s; 10% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Near a hospital
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Virden: 1.1 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Virden 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: #144 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,075 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.
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.9% diabetes
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 40% of adults against 36% for Manitoba. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 24% to 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 Virden: 1.1 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Virden’s own, not the region’s.
Virden is closer in than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Manitoba, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Virden’s region is near the line.
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 3.5 would be expected to reach 79.0 years, and Virden’s region is close, at 78.8. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 78.9 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.
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
Among the 5 regions in Manitoba, from 68.5 to 80.7 years, this one is 3rd.
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 Virden’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.
Self-rated health much as in Manitoba: 51% 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 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.
Virden is 3rd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,268 to 3,374 people, median 7.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rankin Inlet NU D | 3,336 | 0.5 km | 39% |
| 2 | Miller AB B+ | 3,294 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 3 | Virden MB B− | 3,322 | 1.1 km | 51% |
| 4 | Mill Courtland Woodside Park ON A | 3,319 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 5 | Bonavista NL C− | 3,293 | 1.2 km | 44% |
| 40 | Arviat NU D− | 3,330 | 216 km | 39% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Virden
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virden | 1.1 km | 51% | 78.8 | B− |
| Wallace-Woodworth 3.1 km | 19 km | 51% | 78.8 | C |
Around Virden the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Wallace-Woodworth live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 1.1 km in Virden.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Virden itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
Questions about health in Virden
What is the life expectancy in Virden?
There is no figure for Virden alone; its health region’s is 81.2 for women and 76.6 for men in 2022/2024.
How is Virden’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Virden’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Virden from a hospital?
Residents of Virden have a pharmacy 0.6 km away on average, in a straight line.
How healthy is Virden?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
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).