Photo: United Kingdom Hydrographic Office · Public domainMore long-term illness in Placentia’s health region: 24% on the three conditions, the typical Canadian town 17%
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 44% very good or excellent, against 52% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Placentia live 3.6 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Placentia grades D for health, #23 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,507 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Placentia
Life expectancy below the norm
Born around Placentia, a child can expect 2.9 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 18.9 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More smokers
Around Placentia, 13% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 7.4 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 42% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 36 km from the average home in Placentia, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Placentia 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: #23 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,507 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.
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This region is 3rd longest-lived of 5 in Newfoundland and Labrador, on a scale from 77.1 to 80.2 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Placentia’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.
36% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 15% diabetes
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
At 48%, self-reported obesity is above Newfoundland and Labrador’s 42%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Self-rated health trails Newfoundland and Labrador: 42% very good or excellent, against 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
Asked about their mental health, 56% of adults here said very good or excellent; across Newfoundland and Labrador it was 54%, and 15% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Placentia: 3.6 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Placentia, weighted by who lives there.
Placentia is closer in than the provincial norm of 8.5 km in Newfoundland and Labrador, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.7 km, while the average resident is 3.6 km away.
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.
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Placentia’s region shows close to the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Placentia’s region is a typical case: 78.6 years at a score of 3.7, where the trend says 78.3. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 6, with 78.2 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.
Placentia is 15th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,318 to 3,431 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 6.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rankin Inlet NU D | 3,336 | 0.5 km | 39% |
| 2 | Virden MB B− | 3,322 | 1.1 km | 51% |
| 3 | Mill Courtland Woodside Park ON A | 3,319 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 13 | Riverdale East ON B | 3,416 | 2.5 km | 53% |
| 14 | Coach Hill AB A+ | 3,383 | 3.4 km | 56% |
| 15 | Placentia NL D | 3,374 | 3.6 km | 44% |
| 16 | Northmount AB B | 3,349 | 3.9 km | 51% |
| 17 | Eaux Claires AB B | 3,334 | 4.9 km | 51% |
| 40 | Arviat NU D− | 3,330 | 216 km | 39% |
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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Placentia’s own.
- 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.
Questions about health in Placentia
How healthy is Placentia?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 24% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Placentia?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Placentia’s health region only: 80.8 years for women and 76.4 for men (2022/2024).
How is Placentia’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Placentia’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Placentia from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Placentia live: 3.7 km to a clinic, 36 km to a pharmacy.
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).