Photo: Sophilosophie · CC BY-SA 4.0For health, Clare 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%. For Clare itself, the measure is access: 38 km to the nearest hospital on average, with 83% of homes beyond 30 km. Clare grades D− for health, #86 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,568 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Clare
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Clare is well above the typical town’s; 16% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Clare’s own health question: 83% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 43 km. Getting care ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 7.4 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 42% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Living past what deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 3.9, the trend across regions gives 77.8 years of life; Clare’s region reaches 80.0. For its deprivation ↓
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.
Clare 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: #86 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,568 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 (27%) 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
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.
Getting to hospital from Clare: 38 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Clare’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Clare travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Nova Scotia is 9.2 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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.
Ahead of regions as deprived by 2.2 years of life
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Clare’s lies above the line.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Clare’s region beats it: 80.0 years against the 77.8 the trend gives a score of 3.9. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, none lives longer; the middle of the group 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.
42% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Nova Scotia (47%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Stress touches 21% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 47%, the province 48% (Nova Scotia).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
How the 4 health regions in Nova Scotia compare on life expectancy
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
Among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia, from 78.8 to 81.4 years, this one is 2nd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Clare’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Clare comes 40th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,889 to 8,153 people, median 4.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broadview BC A | 8,008 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Wolseley MB B+ | 8,127 | 1.0 km | 52% |
| 3 | Queen Mary Park AB B+ | 7,958 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 38 | Acton Vale QC B+ | 7,945 | 26 km | 55% |
| 39 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est NB C | 8,138 | 32 km | 43% |
| 40 | Clare NS D− | 8,020 | 38 km | 44% |
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 Clare’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
Questions about health in Clare
How far is Clare from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 8.1 km from the average resident of Clare, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How is Clare’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Clare: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Clare?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Clare?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Clare’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).