Victoria scores below 90% of Canadian towns for health
Across the region, 44% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole reaches 52%. For Victoria itself the measure is access, and it lags: 5.1 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Victoria grades D for health.
What stands out about health in Victoria
A heavier load of illness
High blood pressure (36%) and diabetes (15%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around Victoria runs 2.9 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 18.9 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Victoria is well above the typical town’s; 13% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 7.4 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (42% as answered). Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Victoria 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.
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.
High blood pressure for 36% of adults in the region, diabetes for 15%
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, 48%, tops 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.
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
Ranked 3rd 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Victoria’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.
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
Mental health is no outlier: 56% say very good or excellent (Newfoundland and Labrador: 54%) and 15% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
On the trend for regions as deprived, just over it
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Victoria’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
At 3.7 on the index, regions tend to reach 78.3 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Victoria belongs to reaches 78.6. 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.
The nearest hospital is 5.1 km from the average home in Victoria
Straight-line distances from each part of Victoria, weighted by who lives there.
Victoria 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.
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.
Health in the places around Victoria
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | 5.1 km | 44% | 78.6 | D |
| Carbonear 3.6 km | 1.4 km | 44% | 78.6 | D |
| Harbour Grace 9.1 km | 4.9 km | 44% | 78.6 | D |
| Upper Island Cove 13 km | 8.5 km | 44% | 78.6 | D |
| Spaniard's Bay 17 km | 12 km | 44% | 78.6 | D− |
Around Victoria the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Spaniard's Bay is the furthest from care, 12 km to Victoria’s 5.1 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Victoria itself is the trip to care.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
Questions about health in Victoria
How healthy is Victoria?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 24% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Victoria?
For the health region that includes Victoria, women can expect 80.8 years and men 76.4 (2022/2024).
How is Victoria’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Victoria’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Victoria from a hospital?
Residents of Victoria have a clinic 45 km away on average and a pharmacy 4.8 km away, in straight lines.
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).