Health in Nain · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Nain’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 4.4 years: life expectancy 77.1
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 60% very good or excellent, against 52% in Newfoundland and Labrador. For Nain itself, the measure is access: 373 km to the nearest hospital on average, with 100% of homes beyond 30 km. Health gives Nain a grade of D.
Newfoundland and Labrador: 52% · Shared with the rest of the Labrador-Grenfell Zone: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
21%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Around Nain, 17% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Nain’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 373 km. Getting care ↓
A heavier load of illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 26% of adults, diabetes for 14%. Conditions and habits ↓
Self-rated health runs high
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 8.7 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 61% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Nain 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 (60%)Better than 92% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (21%)Better than 11% of Canadian towns
Smokers (19%)Better than 4% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (77.1)Better than 8% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (373 km)Better than 1% 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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (26%) and diabetes (14%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
26%
Arthritis
20%
Diabetes
14%
Obese (self-reported)
52%
Mood disorder
7.6%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
20%
Smoke every day
17%
Heavy drinking
31%
Flu shot in the past year
41%
Newfoundland and Labrador
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 52% of adults against 42% for Newfoundland and Labrador. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 31% to 23%.
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.
Getting care
From Nain, a hospital is 373 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Nain, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
373 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
367 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
373 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
Compared with 8.5 km for the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Nain is on the far side.
More people rate their health highly here than in Newfoundland and Labrador: 61% to 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
Health very good or excellent
61%
Health fair or poor
9.6%
Mental health very good or excellent
59%
Mental health fair or poor
8.6%
Most days quite a bit stressful
12%
Strong sense of belonging
80%
Satisfied with life
92%
Newfoundland and Labrador
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 59% rate it very good or excellent, against 54% in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 12% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
For its deprivation
Behind regions as deprived by 1.2 years of life
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Nain’s region comes out below the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Where residents average 3.7 on the index, regions tend to reach 78.3 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Nain belongs to trails at 77.1. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (8 of 10), with a median of 78.5. Judged by income, around $116,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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
How the 5 health regions in Newfoundland and Labrador compare on life expectancy
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.
77.1
years at birth, 2022/2024
18.8
more years expected at 65
5th
longest of 5 regions in Newfoundland and Labrador
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Eastern Urban Zone80.2
Central Zone79.0
Eastern Rural Zone78.6
Western Zone78.5
Labrador-Grenfell Zone77.1
Last of the 5 regions in Newfoundland and Labrador: the highest figure is 80.2, 3.1 years above the lowest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability1.0
Economic dependency1.1
Ethno-cultural composition3.0
Situational vulnerability5.0
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Nain’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
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Nain itself is the trip to care.
•
Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
•
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. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
•
What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
•
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.
Questions about health in Nain
What is the life expectancy in Nain?
There is no figure for Nain alone; its health region’s is 79.2 for women and 74.6 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Nain from a hospital?
A clinic is 367 km from the average resident of Nain and a pharmacy 373 km, as the crow flies.
How is Nain’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Nain: 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 Nain?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
Photo: Chaughten · CC BY-SA 3.0