Photo: Not specified · Public domainOnly 43% of adults around Saint David call their health very good or excellent, below the typical Canadian town’s 52%
People in the region live to 79.3 on average: 81.1 for women and 77.3 for men in 2022/2024. For Saint David itself the measure is access, and it lags: 8.0 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Saint David a grade of C−.
What stands out about health in Saint David
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around Saint David runs 2.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.1 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Long-term conditions run high
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 31% report high blood pressure and 8.5% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Saint David 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.
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 region is 4th longest-lived of 7 in New Brunswick, on a scale from 78.9 to 81.5 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Saint David’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.
31% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.5% 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
About as many adults report obesity as across New Brunswick: 45%, the province 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.1 years short of the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Saint David’s, lies beneath the trend.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.1, Saint David’s region’s 79.3 years sit under the line’s 80.4. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (9 of 10, median 80.9 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.
Getting to hospital from Saint David: 8.0 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Saint David’s own, not the region’s.
Nothing unusual for Saint David here: the typical town in New Brunswick is 11 km from a hospital and 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.
Self-rated health much as in New Brunswick: 42% 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
On mental health the region tracks New Brunswick, 50% very good or excellent to 49%; 22% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Saint David
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint David | 8.0 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Saint Stephen 5.0 km | 5.2 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| St. Stephen 7.3 km | 1.8 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| Saint James 9.9 km | 19 km | 43% | 79.3 | D |
Same region, same survey: Saint David’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Residents of Saint James live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 8.0 km in Saint David.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Saint David 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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. 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 Saint David
How healthy is Saint David?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
What is the life expectancy in Saint David?
Women in Saint David’s region live to 81.1 on average and men to 77.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Saint David’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Saint David: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Saint David from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Saint David is 8.3 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).