Photo: Azure /Mark Seymour · CC BY-SA 3.0Only 42% of adults around Amherst call their health very good or excellent, below the typical Canadian town’s 52%
For 2022/2024, the region’s figure is 79.3 years at birth, 81.5 for women and 77.1 for men. Measured from where Amherst’s residents live, a hospital is 2.9 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. The Health grade for Amherst is C−, #54 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,445 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Amherst
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Amherst is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Amherst runs 2.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.2 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: 29% report high blood pressure and 13% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
More households under strain
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Amherst at 4.5 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Amherst 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: #54 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,445 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (29%) and diabetes (13%)
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 43%, self-reported obesity is above Nova Scotia’s 39%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Longest and shortest lives among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Nova Scotia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia, from 78.8 to 81.4 years, this one is 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Amherst’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
1.4 more years of life than regions as deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Amherst’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Amherst’s region beats it: 79.3 years against the 77.9 the trend gives a score of 3.8. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do worse (7 of 10), with a median of 78.5.
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 2.9 km from the average home in Amherst
Straight-line distances from each part of Amherst, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 9.2 km for the typical town in Nova Scotia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Amherst is on the near side. The clinic list is thin in Nova Scotia: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Nova Scotia: 41% to 47%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
On mental health the region is behind Nova Scotia, 44% very good or excellent to 48%; 24% 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.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Amherst comes 19th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (9,922 to 10,218 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-des-Fées QC B+ | 10,075 | 0.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | Vincent ON B | 10,011 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 3 | Maple Leaf ON A | 10,040 | 1.2 km | 50% |
| 17 | Citadel AB A+ | 10,196 | 2.6 km | 56% |
| 18 | Pineridge AB A+ | 10,062 | 2.6 km | 56% |
| 19 | Amherst NS C− | 10,072 | 2.9 km | 42% |
| 20 | Notre-Dame-de-Grâces QC A | 10,204 | 3.0 km | 55% |
| 21 | River Valley Oleskiw AB B | 9,922 | 3.0 km | 51% |
| 40 | Leeds and the Thousand Islands ON C+ | 10,185 | 26 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Amherst
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | 2.9 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Cumberland County, Subdivision C 9.1 km | 12 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Sackville 15 km | 2.0 km | 43% | 81.5 | B− |
| Sackville 18 km | 9.1 km | 43% | 81.5 | C+ |
Sackville falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 81.5 against 79.3 here. Residents of Cumberland County, Subdivision C live further from a hospital, at 12 km against 2.9 km in Amherst.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- 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 Amherst’s own.
Questions about health in Amherst
How healthy is Amherst?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Amherst?
Women in Amherst’s region live to 81.5 on average and men to 77.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Amherst’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Amherst’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Amherst from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.0 km from the average resident of Amherst, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).