Photo: ALAN SCHMIERER · CC0Around Torbay, 54% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 80.2, women 82.1 and men 78.2 (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Torbay’s is long: 9.3 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Torbay is C+, #5 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,089 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Torbay
Behind regions as deprived
Torbay’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 2.6 predicts: 80.2 years against 82.2. For its deprivation ↓
A long way to hospital
For 0% of homes in Torbay the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 9.5 km. Getting care ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Torbay’s region sits 1.3 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.4 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
High blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (8.5%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Torbay 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: #5 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #2,089 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 2.0 years of life
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Torbay’s region is below the line.
Where residents average 2.6 on the index, regions tend to reach 82.2 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Torbay belongs to trails at 80.2. It is outlived by 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 81.7 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 9.3 km from the average home in Torbay
Straight-line distances from each part of Torbay, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Torbay here: the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador is 8.5 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 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.
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
No region of the 5 in Newfoundland and Labrador lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 77.1, a gap of 3.1 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; Torbay’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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (8.5%)
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
Self-reported obesity, 36%, trails Newfoundland and Labrador (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 beats Newfoundland and Labrador: 54% 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
On mental health the region is behind Newfoundland and Labrador, 49% very good or excellent to 54%; 21% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Torbay comes 31st of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (8,183 to 8,416 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alta Vista ON A+ | 8,387 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 2 | G-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 8,224 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 3 | Valley Gardens MB B+ | 8,329 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 29 | South-West Oxford ON B− | 8,375 | 6.4 km | 49% |
| 30 | McNab/Braeside ON C | 8,340 | 8.3 km | 50% |
| 31 | Torbay NL C+ | 8,297 | 9.3 km | 54% |
| 32 | Bayfield ON B− | 8,327 | 13 km | 45% |
| 33 | Electoral Area A, Comox Valley BC B+ | 8,415 | 14 km | 54% |
| 40 | Argyle NS D− | 8,216 | 23 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Torbay
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torbay | 9.3 km | 54% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 5.0 km | 8.3 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Flatrock 6.6 km | 15 km | 54% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9.5 km | 8.6 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| St. John's 11 km | 3.0 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Pouch Cove 12 km | 18 km | 54% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Wabana 15 km | 0.9 km | 44% | 78.6 | C− |
Across a regional line, Wabana has its own figures: life expectancy 78.6, against 80.2 here. Residents of Pouch Cove live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 9.3 km in Torbay.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Torbay itself is the trip to care.
- 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. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- 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. 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 Torbay
How is Torbay’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Torbay: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Torbay?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.1 for women, 78.2 for men around Torbay (2022/2024).
How far is Torbay from a hospital?
For everyday care, Torbay’s residents are 1.9 km from a pharmacy and 64 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Torbay?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
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).