Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 3.0Very good or excellent health for just 43% of adults around Dorchester; the typical Canadian town: 52%
For 2022/2024, the region’s figure is 81.5 years at birth, 83.5 for women and 79.5 for men. Measured from where Dorchester’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 11 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Dorchester grades C+ for health.
What stands out about health in Dorchester
A long way to hospital
Residents of Dorchester live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (11 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Dorchester’s neighbourhoods average 5.0 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Dorchester 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.
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 Dorchester: 11 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Dorchester, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Dorchester travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in New Brunswick is 11 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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
Top of the 7 regions in New Brunswick: the lowest figure is 78.9, 2.6 years below the highest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Dorchester’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.
Barely ahead of regions as deprived
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Dorchester’s region is near the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.9, the expected figure is 81.3 years, and Dorchester’s region matches it closely with 81.5. It outlives 8 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 80.9 years. A household income of about $73,000, modest for a region, comes with longer lives than in most regions; across regions the two barely move together (correlation 0.14).
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (25%) and diabetes (10%)
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 tracks the province: 43% of adults here, 42% across New Brunswick.
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.
42% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to 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 looks weaker than in the province: 47% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in New Brunswick, and 25% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Dorchester
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 11 km | 43% | 81.5 | C+ |
| Memramcook 9.4 km | 17 km | 43% | 81.5 | C |
| Sackville 9.8 km | 9.1 km | 43% | 81.5 | C+ |
| Sackville 11 km | 2.0 km | 43% | 81.5 | B− |
| Hillsborough 12 km | 21 km | 43% | 81.5 | C |
| Hillsborough 14 km | 21 km | 43% | 81.5 | C |
Around Dorchester the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Hillsborough live further from a hospital, at 21 km against 11 km in Dorchester.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Dorchester’s own.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Dorchester
How healthy is Dorchester?
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.
How is Dorchester’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 Dorchester’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Dorchester from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 11 km from the average resident of Dorchester, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Dorchester?
For the health region that includes Dorchester, women can expect 83.5 years and men 79.5 (2022/2024).
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).