Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Chronic conditions run high around Gander: 22% on average, against 17% for the typical Canadian town
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 54% very good or excellent, against 52% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Gander is well placed: 1.8 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Gander is C+, #10 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,230 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Gander
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around Gander runs 2.5 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 18.9 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Gander than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Gander 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. Its place: #10 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,230 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
Regional life expectancy in Newfoundland and Labrador, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 2nd of 5 in Newfoundland and Labrador: the regions span 77.1 to 80.2 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Gander’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.
In the region, high blood pressure (33%) and diabetes (13%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
More adults report obesity than across Newfoundland and Labrador: 46%, 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 less: the region outlives the trend by 1.2 years
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Gander’s lies above the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.9, the expected figure is 77.8 years, and Gander’s region does better with 79.0. Even beside regions as deprived, it stands out: 7 of its 10 closest matches fall short, their 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.
The nearest hospital is 1.8 km from the average home in Gander
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Gander’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 8.5 km for the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Gander is on the near side.
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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Newfoundland and Labrador: 51% and 50%
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health beats Newfoundland and Labrador as well: 59% very good or excellent to 54%, with 11% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Gander is 12th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 12,424 to 12,990 people, median 3.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yonge-Bay Corridor ON A | 12,888 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 2 | Regent Park ON A | 12,797 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Yonge-Eglinton ON A | 12,424 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 10 | Alderwood ON A | 12,596 | 1.6 km | 50% |
| 11 | Westboro ON A+ | 12,899 | 1.7 km | 56% |
| 12 | Gander NL C+ | 12,707 | 1.8 km | 54% |
| 13 | Prince Rupert BC C− | 12,903 | 1.8 km | 42% |
| 14 | Bayview Woods-Steeles ON A | 12,499 | 1.9 km | 50% |
| 40 | Lac Ste. Anne County AB D− | 12,639 | 25 km | 48% |
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. 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. 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. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Gander alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Gander
What is the life expectancy in Gander?
For the health region that includes Gander, women can expect 80.5 years and men 77.4 (2022/2024).
How is Gander’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Gander: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Gander?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Chronic conditions there average 22% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Gander from a hospital?
For everyday care, Gander’s residents are 1.4 km from a pharmacy and 1.4 km from a clinic on average.
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).