Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0On health, Dalhousie falls short of 97% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 36% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; New Brunswick as a whole reaches 44%. For Dalhousie itself the measure is access, and it lags: 23 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Dalhousie grades D− for health, #2,570 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Dalhousie
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 15.4 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 34%. Health survey ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (36%) and diabetes (17%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to hospital
For 0% of homes in Dalhousie the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 23 km. Getting care ↓
Beating its deprivation on life expectancy
Dalhousie’s region beats what its deprivation score of 4.4 predicts: 79.0 years against 75.9. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Dalhousie 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. Its place: #2,570 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.
34% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in New Brunswick (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 beats New Brunswick as well: 55% very good or excellent to 49%, with 17% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
In the region, high blood pressure (36%) and diabetes (17%)
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 43%, self-reported obesity is near 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.
Ahead of regions as deprived by 3.1 years of life
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Dalhousie’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
The trend over 102 regions (correlation −0.83) is clear, and Dalhousie’s region sits above it: 79.0 years where a score of 4.4 predicts 75.9. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 8, with 77.9 years in the middle.
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.
Getting to hospital from Dalhousie: 23 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Dalhousie, weighted by who lives there.
From Dalhousie that is further than the 11 km of the typical town in New Brunswick, and the 3.7 km of 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 7 regions in New Brunswick
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
Among the 7 regions in New Brunswick, from 78.9 to 81.5 years, this one is 6th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Dalhousie’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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Dalhousie comes 35th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,201 to 3,307 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Clair ON B+ | 3,201 | 0.7 km | 53% |
| 2 | Miller AB B+ | 3,294 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 3 | Marathon ON C | 3,223 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 33 | Annapolis County, Subdivision D NS D | 3,273 | 19 km | 44% |
| 34 | Central Okanagan West BC B− | 3,298 | 22 km | 52% |
| 35 | Dalhousie NB D− | 3,255 | 23 km | 36% |
| 36 | Sainte-Clotilde QC B+ | 3,297 | 23 km | 55% |
| 37 | Greater Madawaska ON C− | 3,234 | 24 km | 50% |
| 40 | Hampton NB D | 3,268 | 27 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Dalhousie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalhousie | 23 km | 36% | 79.0 | D− |
| Eel River Crossing 7.7 km | 16 km | 36% | 79.0 | D |
| Charlo 8.2 km | 25 km | 36% | 79.0 | D− |
| Nouvelle 9.7 km | 25 km | 56% | 79.9 | C |
| Dalhousie 10 km | 12 km | 36% | 79.0 | D |
| Balmoral 11 km | 16 km | 36% | 79.0 | D |
Across a regional line, Nouvelle has its own figures: life expectancy 79.9, against 79.0 here.
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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Dalhousie shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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 Dalhousie
How healthy is Dalhousie?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 24% of adults.
How far is Dalhousie from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Dalhousie is 1.2 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in Dalhousie?
Women in Dalhousie’s region live to 82.3 on average and men to 75.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Dalhousie’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Dalhousie’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).