Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY 3.0Smoking runs high around Berwick: 19% of adults, the typical Canadian town 12%
Across the region, 44% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Nova Scotia as a whole reaches 48%. What sets Berwick apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 0.9 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Berwick grades C− for health, #39 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,352 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Berwick
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 ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (27%) and diabetes (13%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Berwick runs 1.5 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Living past what deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.9 on the deprivation index typically live 77.8 years; Berwick’s region, at 80.0, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Berwick 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: #39 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,352 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.
The region lives 2.2 years longer than its deprivation predicts
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Berwick’s region shows above the trend.
Measured against 102 regions, more deprivation means shorter lives, and steadily so (correlation −0.83). Berwick’s region, at 3.9, outlives the trend’s 77.8 years with 80.0. It outlives all 10 of its nearest neighbours on the index, whose median is 78.3.
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.
Self-rated health trails Nova Scotia: 42% very good or excellent, against 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
On mental health the region tracks Nova Scotia, 47% very good or excellent to 48%; 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.
27% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 13% diabetes
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.
Life expectancy across the 4 health 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
The region comes 2nd of 4 in Nova Scotia, where life expectancy runs from 78.8 to 81.4 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Berwick’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.
The nearest hospital is 0.9 km from the average home in Berwick
Straight-line distances from each part of Berwick, weighted by who lives there.
Berwick is closer in than the provincial norm of 9.2 km in Nova Scotia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. Few clinics are listed in Nova Scotia, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Berwick is 3rd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,587 to 2,675 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 8.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosetown SK B+ | 2,600 | 0.4 km | 54% |
| 2 | Hanna AB B− | 2,665 | 0.5 km | 52% |
| 3 | Berwick NS C− | 2,631 | 0.9 km | 44% |
| 4 | Outlook SK B+ | 2,629 | 0.9 km | 54% |
| 5 | Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 2,671 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 40 | Tumbler Ridge BC D | 2,663 | 75 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Berwick
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Around Berwick the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Kingston is the furthest from care, 12 km to Berwick’s 0.9 km.
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 Berwick’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Berwick
How healthy is Berwick?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 20% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Berwick’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Berwick’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Berwick?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Berwick’s health region only: 82.5 years for women and 77.6 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Berwick from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.5 km from the average resident of Berwick, 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).