Photo: Robert Alfers · Public domain51% of adults around Bedford rate their health very good or excellent
Life expectancy in the region is 81.4 years (83.4 for women, 79.3 for men, 2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Bedford’s is long: 4.9 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Bedford is B+, #11 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,543 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Bedford
Easier circumstances
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Bedford’s neighbourhoods average 1.3 out of 5, among the least deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
A typical home in Bedford has 6.0 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.8 km away. Getting care ↓
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.
Bedford grades B+ 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: #11 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,543 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 nearest hospital is 4.9 km from the average home in Bedford
Straight-line distances from each part of Bedford, weighted by who lives there.
From Bedford that is nearer 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.
How the 4 health regions in Nova Scotia compare on life expectancy
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
Top of the 4 regions in Nova Scotia: the lowest figure is 78.8, 2.6 years below the highest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Bedford’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.
Behind regions as deprived by 0.8 years of life
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Bedford’s region comes out below the trend.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Bedford belongs to lives less long than its score of 2.6 predicts: 81.4 years, where the trend gives 82.2. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 5 of them above it, a median of 81.7. A household income of about $81,000, modest for a region, comes with longer lives than in most regions; across regions the two barely move together (correlation 0.14).
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (21%) and diabetes (7.5%)
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across Nova Scotia: 35%, 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.
Self-rated health beats Nova Scotia: 51% 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
For 24% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 48% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near Nova Scotia’s 48%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Bedford is 29th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (27,429 to 30,304 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montagne QC A | 28,569 | 0.4 km | 54% |
| 2 | Verdun-Centre QC A | 30,304 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 3 | Marie-Victorin QC A | 28,904 | 0.6 km | 54% |
| 27 | Auteuil QC A | 27,843 | 4.3 km | 53% |
| 28 | Val-Bélair QC A+ | 30,003 | 4.4 km | 62% |
| 29 | Bedford NS B+ | 28,848 | 4.9 km | 51% |
| 30 | Wasaga Beach ON B+ | 28,736 | 5.0 km | 54% |
| 31 | Argyle ON B+ | 28,109 | 5.2 km | 52% |
| 40 | Amherstburg ON B− | 27,509 | 19 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Bedford
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | 4.9 km | 51% | 81.4 | B+ |
| Clayton Park West 5.0 km | 6.2 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
| Lower Sackville 5.7 km | 2.4 km | 51% | 81.4 | B+ |
| Fairview 7.7 km | 3.8 km | 51% | 81.4 | B+ |
| Mount Royale 7.9 km | 5.0 km | 51% | 81.4 | B+ |
| Timberlea 8.1 km | 10 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
| Middle Sackville 8.2 km | 6.4 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Bedford from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Timberlea live further from a hospital, at 10 km against 4.9 km in Bedford.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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 Bedford’s own.
- 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. 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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Bedford
How is Bedford’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 Bedford’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Bedford?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
How far is Bedford from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.8 km from the average resident of Bedford, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Bedford?
There is no figure for Bedford alone; its health region’s is 83.4 for women and 79.3 for men in 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).