Photo: ValerieWalking · CC BY-SA 2.0For health, Newcastle sits behind 93% 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%. Closer to home, a hospital is 14 km from the average resident of Newcastle, further than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Newcastle a grade of D.
What stands out about health in Newcastle
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Newcastle than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 19% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Newcastle runs 2.6 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.8 more years (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 ↓
Far from a hospital
For 0% of homes in Newcastle the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 13 km. Getting care ↓
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.
Newcastle 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.
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.
29% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 17% diabetes
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”.
Life expectancy across the 7 health 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
This is the shortest-lived of the 7 regions in New Brunswick, 2.6 years behind the first at 81.5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Newcastle’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
The nearest hospital is 14 km from the average home in Newcastle
Straight-line distances from each part of Newcastle, weighted by who lives there.
That is close to the 11 km of the typical town in New Brunswick (the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km), as Newcastle goes. 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.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 1.3 years more here
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Newcastle’s, lies over the trend.
At 3.9 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 77.6 years, and the region Newcastle belongs to reaches 78.9. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (7 of 10, median 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in New Brunswick: 46% and 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 is no outlier: 47% say very good or excellent (New Brunswick: 49%) and 17% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Newcastle
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle | 14 km | 47% | 78.9 | D |
| Miramichi 13 km | 5.0 km | 47% | 78.9 | D |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Newcastle’s regional figures. Residents of Miramichi live nearer a hospital, at 5.0 km against 14 km in Newcastle.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for 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 Newcastle’s own.
- 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.
- 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 Newcastle
What is the life expectancy in Newcastle?
Women in Newcastle’s region live to 82.0 on average and men to 75.7, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Newcastle from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 11 km from the average resident of Newcastle, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How healthy is Newcastle?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
How is Newcastle’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Newcastle’s own distance to care, 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).