Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Health in Miramichi trails 86% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 47% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than New Brunswick’s 44%. For Miramichi itself the measure is access, and it lags: 5.0 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Miramichi is D, #52 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,473 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Miramichi
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Miramichi is well above the typical town’s; 19% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Born around Miramichi, a child can expect 2.6 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.8 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 29% of adults, diabetes for 17%. Conditions and habits ↓
Less upbeat about their health
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.2 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 46%. Health survey ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Miramichi 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: #52 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,473 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.
High blood pressure for 29% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 44% of adults against 42% for 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. Statistics Canada flags heavy drinking “use with caution”.
Longest and shortest lives among the 7 regions in New Brunswick
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
No region of the 7 in New Brunswick has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 81.5, a gap of 2.6 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Miramichi’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in New Brunswick: 46% 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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across New Brunswick (47% against 49%), while 17% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Longer lives than deprivation would give: 1.3 years ahead of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Miramichi’s region comes out above the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.9, the expected figure is 77.6 years, and Miramichi’s region does better with 78.9. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 7 of 10; their median is 78.3 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.
The nearest hospital is 5.0 km from the average home in Miramichi
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Miramichi’s own, not the region’s.
Miramichi is closer in than the provincial norm of 11 km in New Brunswick, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. 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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Miramichi comes 29th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 18,885 to 19,953 people, median 2.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Granville Entertainment District BC A+ | 19,125 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 2 | North End NS B+ | 19,733 | 0.7 km | 51% |
| 3 | Central London ON A− | 19,363 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 27 | Purpleville ON A | 19,918 | 4.2 km | 51% |
| 28 | Kemptville ON B− | 19,733 | 4.9 km | 51% |
| 29 | Miramichi NB D | 19,402 | 5.0 km | 47% |
| 30 | Mount Pleasant Village ON A− | 19,719 | 5.7 km | 49% |
| 31 | L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève QC A | 18,885 | 6.0 km | 54% |
| 40 | Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC A− | 19,447 | 19 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Miramichi
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miramichi | 5.0 km | 47% | 78.9 | D |
| Newcastle 13 km | 14 km | 47% | 78.9 | D |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Miramichi’s regional figures. Newcastle is the furthest from care, 14 km to Miramichi’s 5.0 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Miramichi alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Miramichi
How is Miramichi’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 Miramichi’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Miramichi?
For the health region that includes Miramichi, women can expect 82.0 years and men 75.7 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Miramichi?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
How far is Miramichi from a hospital?
For everyday care, Miramichi’s residents are 2.0 km from a pharmacy on average.
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).