Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer adults feel healthy around New Glasgow: 42% say very good or excellent (52% for the typical Canadian town)
Life expectancy in the region is 79.3 years (81.5 for women, 77.1 for men, 2022/2024). For New Glasgow itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 2.0 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for New Glasgow is C−, #49 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,431 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in New Glasgow
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around New Glasgow than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Born around New Glasgow, a child can expect 2.2 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.2 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 29% report high blood pressure and 13% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
New Glasgow 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: #49 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,431 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 29% 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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 43% of adults against 39% for Nova Scotia.
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
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
This region is 3rd longest-lived of 4 in Nova Scotia, on a scale from 78.8 to 81.4 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes New Glasgow’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 1.4 years more here
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, New Glasgow’s, lies over the trend.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) puts a deprivation score of 3.8 at 77.9 years of life; New Glasgow’s region does better, at 79.3. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (7 of 10, median 78.5 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.
Getting to hospital from New Glasgow: 2.0 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is New Glasgow’s own, not the region’s.
From New Glasgow 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.
Self-rated health trails Nova Scotia: 41% 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
Mental health trails Nova Scotia: 44% very good or excellent to 48%, with 24% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, New Glasgow is 13th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 10,150 to 10,571 people, median 2.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Central ON B+ | 10,392 | 0.6 km | 52% |
| 2 | City Centre ON B+ | 10,269 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 3 | Professors Lake ON A− | 10,335 | 1.0 km | 49% |
| 11 | Du Parc QC B+ | 10,168 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 12 | Glenbrook AB A+ | 10,185 | 1.6 km | 56% |
| 13 | New Glasgow NS C− | 10,378 | 2.0 km | 42% |
| 14 | Vanier North ON A+ | 10,498 | 2.0 km | 56% |
| 15 | Upper Thornhill Estates ON A | 10,435 | 2.0 km | 51% |
| 40 | Leeds and the Thousand Islands ON C+ | 10,185 | 26 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around New Glasgow
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Glasgow | 2.0 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Trenton 2.7 km | 4.6 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Stellarton 3.7 km | 2.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Westville 6.6 km | 5.9 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C 6.6 km | 10 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B 10 km | 9.6 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Pictou 11 km | 1.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
Same region, same survey: New Glasgow’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Residents of Pictou County, Subdivision C live further from a hospital, at 10 km against 2.0 km in New Glasgow.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips 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. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- 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 New Glasgow’s own.
- 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 New Glasgow
How healthy is New Glasgow?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
What is the life expectancy in New Glasgow?
Women in New Glasgow’s region live to 81.5 on average and men to 77.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is New Glasgow’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for New Glasgow: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is New Glasgow from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 2.0 km from the average resident of New Glasgow, 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).