Photo: misterjerk2 · CC BY-SA 3.051% of adults around Upper Tantallon rate their health very good or excellent
Across the region, life runs to 81.4 years on average: women 83.4, men 79.3, in 2022/2024. What sets Upper Tantallon apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 20 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Upper Tantallon a grade of B−, #35 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,991 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Upper Tantallon
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Upper Tantallon live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (18 km from its centre of population), and 9% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Upper Tantallon 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: #35 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,991 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.
From Upper Tantallon, a hospital is 20 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Upper Tantallon, weighted by who lives there.
From Upper Tantallon 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 0.8 years behind the trend
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Upper Tantallon’s dot is marked, under the line.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.6 would suggest 82.2 years, but Upper Tantallon’s region stops at 81.4. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 5 of the 10, around a median of 81.7 years. Judged by income, around $81,000 a household, the region would look poorly placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one outlives most.
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.
High blood pressure for 21% of adults in the region, diabetes for 7.5%
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
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.
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
No region of the 4 in Nova Scotia lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 78.8, a gap of 2.6 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 Upper Tantallon’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.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more 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
Mental health reads like the rest of Nova Scotia: 48% against 48%, and 24% 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.
Upper Tantallon is 38th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,169 to 5,319 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heritage SK B+ | 5,172 | 0.5 km | 49% |
| 2 | Didsbury AB A+ | 5,185 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 3 | Mt. Hope Huron Park ON A | 5,174 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 36 | Lake Echo NS B | 5,223 | 15 km | 51% |
| 37 | Norwood ON C− | 5,308 | 18 km | 47% |
| 38 | Upper Tantallon NS B− | 5,248 | 20 km | 51% |
| 39 | Marystown NL D− | 5,196 | 31 km | 44% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Upper Tantallon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Tantallon | 20 km | 51% | 81.4 | B− |
| Head of St Margarets Bay 3.9 km | 22 km | 51% | 81.4 | B− |
| Hubley 4.8 km | 19 km | 51% | 81.4 | B− |
| Hammonds Plains 8.1 km | 10 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
| Timberlea 13 km | 10 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
| Middle Sackville 15 km | 6.4 km | 51% | 81.4 | B |
| Bedford 16 km | 4.9 km | 51% | 81.4 | B+ |
The neighbours all sit in Upper Tantallon’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Bedford is the closest to care, 4.9 km to Upper Tantallon’s 20 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Upper Tantallon itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Upper Tantallon
How far is Upper Tantallon from a hospital?
Residents of Upper Tantallon have a pharmacy 4.0 km away on average, in a straight line.
How is Upper Tantallon’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Upper Tantallon: 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 Upper Tantallon?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Upper Tantallon?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Upper Tantallon’s health region only: 83.4 years for women and 79.3 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).