Health in Upper Miramichi · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Upper Miramichi scores below 89% of Canadian towns for health
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 45% very good or excellent, 44% for New Brunswick. Closer to home, a hospital is 63 km from the average resident of Upper Miramichi, and 100% live more than 30 km away. Upper Miramichi grades D for health.
New Brunswick: 44% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Zone 3 (Fredericton area)
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
For 100% of homes in Upper Miramichi the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 68 km. Getting care ↓
A region that smokes more
Around Upper Miramichi, 11% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Self-rated health runs low
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 7.0 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 44% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
No pharmacy close by
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 51 km from the average home in Upper Miramichi, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Upper 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.
Very good or excellent health (45%)Better than 13% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 34% of Canadian towns
Smokers (15%)Better than 26% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (80.1)Better than 44% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (63 km)Better than 2% of Canadian towns
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 care
From Upper Miramichi, a hospital is 63 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Upper Miramichi, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
63 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
110 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
51 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
100%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Upper Miramichi is further out 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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.4%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
23%
Arthritis
27%
Diabetes
9.4%
Obese (self-reported)
39%
Mood disorder
18%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
15%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
23%
New Brunswick
Obesity runs lower than in the province, at 39% 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.
Health survey
Self-rated health much as in New Brunswick: 44% 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
Health very good or excellent
44%
Health fair or poor
23%
Mental health very good or excellent
45%
Mental health fair or poor
22%
Most days quite a bit stressful
26%
Strong sense of belonging
64%
Satisfied with life
82%
New Brunswick
Mental health trails New Brunswick: 45% very good or excellent to 49%, with 26% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
For its deprivation
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.0 years short of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Upper Miramichi’s region comes out below the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.9, Upper Miramichi’s region’s 80.1 years sit under the line’s 81.1. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 9 still live longer, with 81.2 years in the middle.
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 wider area
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.
80.1
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.6
more years expected at 65
3rd
longest of 7 regions in New Brunswick
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Zone 1 (Moncton area)81.5
Zone 6 (Bathurst area)80.2
Zone 3 (Fredericton area)80.1
Zone 2 (Saint John area)79.3
Zone 4 (Edmundston area)79.1
Zone 5 (Campbellton area)79.0
Zone 7 (Miramichi area)78.9
Of the 7 health regions in New Brunswick, 3rd place goes to this one, between a low of 78.9 and a high of 81.5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.7
Economic dependency4.7
Ethno-cultural composition1.0
Situational vulnerability4.8
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Upper Miramichi’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.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
•
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. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Upper Miramichi itself is the trip to care.
•
Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
•
Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
Questions about health in Upper Miramichi
How far is Upper Miramichi from a hospital?
Residents of Upper Miramichi have a pharmacy 51 km away on average, in a straight line.
How healthy is Upper Miramichi?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
How is Upper Miramichi’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Upper Miramichi has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Upper Miramichi?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Upper Miramichi’s health region only: 81.9 years for women and 78.2 for men (2022/2024).
Photo: Bethanyamurray · CC BY-SA 3.0