Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainArthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner around Bathurst (20% against 17% for the typical Canadian town)
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 49% very good or excellent, against 44% in New Brunswick. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Bathurst’s is long: 11 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Bathurst grades C+ for health, #12 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,110 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Bathurst
Hospital care at a distance
For 0% of homes in Bathurst the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 6.1 km. Getting care ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Bathurst runs 1.3 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 20.4 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 4.2, the trend across regions gives 76.5 years of life; Bathurst’s region reaches 80.2. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Bathurst grades C+ 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: #12 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,110 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.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 3.7 years
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Bathurst’s region’s dot is above the line.
At 4.2 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 76.5 years, and the region Bathurst belongs to reaches 80.2. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, none lives longer; the middle of the group is 77.9 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.
From Bathurst, a hospital is 11 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Bathurst, weighted by who lives there.
For distance to care Bathurst is ordinary: 11 km is the typical figure in New Brunswick, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town. The clinic list is thin in New Brunswick: 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.
How the 7 health regions in New Brunswick compare on life expectancy
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in New Brunswick, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in New Brunswick runs from 78.9 to 81.5; this region sits 2nd of the 7.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Bathurst itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
In the region, high blood pressure (37%) and diabetes (14%)
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
About as many adults report obesity as across New Brunswick: 40%, the province 42%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
Self-rated health beats New Brunswick: 46% very good or excellent, against 43%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across New Brunswick (59% against 49%), while 18% 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: Bathurst comes 23rd of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,732 to 4,939 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 6.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North End East ON B+ | 4,816 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Westdale South ON B+ | 4,931 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 3 | Central McDougall AB B+ | 4,802 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 21 | Baturyn AB B | 4,796 | 6.5 km | 51% |
| 22 | Roxton Pond QC A | 4,884 | 8.2 km | 57% |
| 23 | Bathurst NB C+ | 4,840 | 11 km | 49% |
| 24 | Warwick QC A− | 4,939 | 12 km | 61% |
| 25 | Château-Richer QC A+ | 4,732 | 12 km | 62% |
| 40 | Hampton NB D | 4,754 | 32 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Bathurst
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bathurst | 11 km | 49% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Bathurst 7.4 km | 3.5 km | 49% | 80.2 | B− |
| Beresford 10 km | 5.6 km | 49% | 80.2 | B− |
| Nigadoo 13 km | 10 km | 49% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Beresford 14 km | 12 km | 49% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Petit-Rocher 19 km | 15 km | 49% | 80.2 | C+ |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Bathurst’s; read across for the hospital trip. Bathurst is the closest to care, 3.5 km to Bathurst’s 11 km.
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. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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 Bathurst’s own.
- 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.
Questions about health in Bathurst
How is Bathurst’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Bathurst’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Bathurst from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 9.8 km from the average resident of Bathurst, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Bathurst?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Bathurst’s health region only: 82.7 years for women and 77.8 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Bathurst?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% 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).