Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0For health, Barrington sits behind 97% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 44% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Nova Scotia as a whole reaches 48%. Measured from where Barrington’s residents live, a hospital is 36 km away on average and 84% of them are over 30 km out. The Health grade for Barrington is D−, #85 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,567 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Barrington
A region that smokes more
Around Barrington, 16% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Barrington live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (38 km from its centre of population), and 84% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Self-rated health runs low
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 ↓
Living past what deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 3.9, the trend across regions gives 77.8 years of life; Barrington’s region reaches 80.0. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Barrington 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: #85 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,567 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.
High blood pressure for 27% of adults in the region, diabetes for 13%
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
On weight the region is ordinary for Nova Scotia: 40% report obesity, the province 39%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
The nearest hospital is 36 km from the average home in Barrington
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Barrington’s own, not the region’s.
From Barrington that is further than the 9.2 km of the typical town in Nova Scotia, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
2.2 more years of life than regions as deprived
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Barrington’s region’s dot is above the line.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Barrington’s region beats it: 80.0 years against the 77.8 the trend gives a score of 3.9. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes first; their median is 78.3 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Nova Scotia: 42% to 47%
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 reads like the rest of Nova Scotia: 47% against 48%, and 21% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Longest and shortest lives among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia
Regional life expectancy in Nova Scotia, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Nova Scotia runs from 78.8 to 81.4; this region sits 2nd of the 4.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Barrington’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Barrington is 39th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 6,590 to 6,860 people, median 4.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centre QC A | 6,627 | 0.8 km | 55% |
| 2 | Old Ottawa South ON A+ | 6,704 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 3 | Hillsdale SK B+ | 6,792 | 1.2 km | 49% |
| 37 | Southern Gulf Islands BC A | 6,691 | 17 km | 55% |
| 38 | Plessisville QC B+ | 6,774 | 22 km | 61% |
| 39 | Barrington NS D− | 6,720 | 36 km | 44% |
| 40 | Thunder Bay, Unorganized ON D | 6,831 | 37 km | 49% |
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
- 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 Barrington’s own.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- 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 Barrington
How far is Barrington from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 23 km from the average resident of Barrington, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How healthy is Barrington?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
How is Barrington’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Barrington’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Barrington?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Barrington’s health region only: 82.5 years for women and 77.6 for men (2022/2024).
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).