Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Witless Bay sits a long way from hospital care: 28 km for the average resident
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 54% very good or excellent, against 52% in Newfoundland and Labrador. Pharmacies are closer at hand, 4.4 km away on average and 0.0 of them within 3 km of a typical home. Health gives Witless Bay a grade of C.
What stands out about health in Witless Bay
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
At 80.2 years, Witless Bay’s region trails the 82.2 that regions scoring 2.6 on the index typically reach. For its deprivation ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Witless Bay runs 1.3 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.4 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 8.5% diabetes. 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.
Witless Bay 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.
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.
2.0 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Witless Bay’s region comes out below the trend.
Use the deprivation index alone and Witless Bay’s region, at 2.6, should live about 82.2 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), but it reaches only 80.2. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
Top of the 5 regions in Newfoundland and Labrador: the lowest figure is 77.1, 3.1 years below the highest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Witless Bay’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.
High blood pressure for 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.5%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
At 36%, self-reported obesity is below 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.
Everyday care in Witless Bay: the nearest pharmacy 4.4 km away, 0.0 within 3 km
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Witless Bay’s own, not the region’s.
Witless Bay is further out 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.
54% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Newfoundland and Labrador (50%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 49% rate it very good or excellent, against 54% in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 21% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Witless Bay
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witless Bay | 28 km | 54% | 80.2 | C |
| Bay Bulls 5.1 km | 24 km | 54% | 80.2 | C |
| Division No. 1, Subdivision U 9.8 km | 41 km | 44% | 78.6 | D− |
Division No. 1, Subdivision U falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 78.6 against 80.2 here.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Witless Bay alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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 Witless Bay
How far is Witless Bay from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Witless Bay live: 50 km to a clinic, 4.4 km to a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Witless Bay?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Witless Bay’s health region only: 82.1 years for women and 78.2 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Witless Bay?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
How is Witless Bay’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Witless Bay: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
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).