Photo: Torbenbrinker|Torbenbrinker · CC BY-SA 3.0On health, Deer Lake falls short of 94% of Canadian towns
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 47% very good or excellent, against 52% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Deer Lake live 45 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Deer Lake grades D for health, #26 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,548 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Deer Lake
A region where lives run shorter
Born around Deer Lake, a child can expect 3.0 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 18.9 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A long way to hospital
Distance is Deer Lake’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 45 km. Getting care ↓
More smokers
Around Deer Lake, 12% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Beating its deprivation on life expectancy
Set against regions as deprived (4.3), Deer Lake’s region gains years: 78.5 where the trend says 76.0. For its deprivation ↓
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.
Deer Lake 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: #26 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,548 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Newfoundland and Labrador
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Of the 5 health regions in Newfoundland and Labrador, 4th place goes to this one, between a low of 77.1 and a high of 80.2.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Deer Lake itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Getting to hospital from Deer Lake: 45 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Deer Lake, weighted by who lives there.
Deer Lake is further out than the provincial norm of 8.5 km in Newfoundland and Labrador, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
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.
Ahead of regions as deprived by 2.5 years of life
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Deer Lake’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
At 4.3 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 76.0 years, and the region Deer Lake belongs to reaches 78.5. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 5 of them below it, a median of 77.9.
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (31%) and diabetes (14%)
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 Newfoundland and Labrador: 43%, 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.
Self-rated health trails Newfoundland and Labrador: 44% very good or excellent, against 50%
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 close to the province’s: 56% rate it very good or excellent, against 54% in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 19% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Deer Lake is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,223 to 5,415 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 5,386 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 2 | Billings Bridge - Heron Park ON A+ | 5,370 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 3 | Waverley Heights MB B+ | 5,252 | 1.1 km | 52% |
| 38 | Electoral Area H, Central Kootenay BC B | 5,390 | 28 km | 55% |
| 39 | Central Frontenac ON B− | 5,348 | 41 km | 53% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
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.
- 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. 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Deer Lake shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
Questions about health in Deer Lake
How far is Deer Lake from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Deer Lake is 132 km from a clinic and 1.2 km from a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Deer Lake?
For the health region that includes Deer Lake, women can expect 81.1 years and men 76.0 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Deer Lake?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
How is Deer Lake’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Deer Lake’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).