Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFewer adults feel healthy around Bright: 45% say very good or excellent (52% for the typical Canadian town)
Lives in the region last 80.1 years on average (2022/2024): 81.9 for women, 78.2 for men. For Bright itself the measure is access, and it lags: 23 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Bright grades C− for health, #50 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,446 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Bright
Far from a hospital
Distance is Bright’s own health question: 19% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 25 km. Getting care ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Bright is well above the typical town’s; 11% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Born around Bright, a child can expect 1.4 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.6 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Bright 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: #50 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,446 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.
Getting to hospital from Bright: 23 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Bright’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 11 km for the typical town in New Brunswick and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Bright is on the far side. Few clinics are listed in New Brunswick, 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (23%) and diabetes (9.4%)
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
At 39%, self-reported obesity is below New Brunswick’s 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.
How the 7 health regions in New Brunswick compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in New Brunswick, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
The region comes 3rd of 7 in New Brunswick, where life expectancy runs from 78.9 to 81.5 years.
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 Bright’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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.0 years behind the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Bright’s, lies beneath the trend.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Bright belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.9 predicts: 80.1 years, where the trend gives 81.1. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 81.2 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.
Self-rated health much as in New Brunswick: 44% to 43%
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 weaker than in the province: 45% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in New Brunswick, and 26% find most days quite 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: Bright comes 37th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,601 to 3,702 people, median 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eaglemere MB B+ | 3,631 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 2 | Central ON B | 3,698 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 3 | West Kildonan Industrial MB B+ | 3,678 | 1.4 km | 52% |
| 35 | Saint-Michel QC A− | 3,672 | 18 km | 55% |
| 36 | Timiskaming, Unorganized, West Part ON C− | 3,606 | 21 km | 54% |
| 37 | Bright NB C− | 3,648 | 23 km | 45% |
| 38 | Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez QC B | 3,639 | 24 km | 56% |
| 39 | Powassan ON D | 3,657 | 30 km | 47% |
| 40 | Pemberton BC A | 3,620 | 73 km | 59% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Bright
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright | 23 km | 45% | 80.1 | C− |
| Queensbury 10 km | 32 km | 45% | 80.1 | D |
| Douglas 13 km | 16 km | 45% | 80.1 | C− |
| Kingsclear 15 km | 17 km | 45% | 80.1 | C− |
The neighbours all sit in Bright’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Bright alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
Questions about health in Bright
How far is Bright from a hospital?
For everyday care, Bright’s residents are 8.5 km from a pharmacy on average.
How healthy is Bright?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Bright?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 81.9 for women, 78.2 for men around Bright (2022/2024).
How is Bright’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Bright 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).