Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainNorthesk scores below 96% of Canadian towns for health
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 47%, ahead of the 44% for New Brunswick. Closer to home, a hospital is 18 km from the average resident of Northesk, further than the usual 3.7 km. Northesk grades D− for health.
What stands out about health in Northesk
A region that smokes more
Around Northesk, 19% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around Northesk 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 ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Northesk live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (20 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 29% report high blood pressure and 17% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Northesk 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (29%) 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 44%, 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. 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
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
The index is context and never graded: it describes Northesk’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.
The nearest hospital is 18 km from the average home in Northesk
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Northesk’s own, not the region’s.
From Northesk 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.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 1.3 years more here
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Northesk’s region comes out above the trend.
At 3.9 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 77.6 years, and the region Northesk 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.
46% 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
Stress touches 17% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 47%, the province 49% (New Brunswick).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Northesk
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
One health region covers Northesk and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same.
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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Northesk itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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 survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
Questions about health in Northesk
How is Northesk’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 Northesk’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Northesk from a hospital?
Residents of Northesk have a pharmacy 16 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Northesk?
For the health region that includes Northesk, women can expect 82.0 years and men 75.7 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Northesk?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
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).