Photo: William M. Monroe · Public domainOnly 42% of adults around Pictou call their health very good or excellent, below the typical Canadian town’s 52%
A baby born in the region can expect 79.3 years, 81.5 for a girl and 77.1 for a boy (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Pictou is well placed: 1.5 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Pictou grades C− for health, #46 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,422 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Pictou
Smoking runs high
Around Pictou, 14% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Pictou runs 2.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.2 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Long-term conditions run high
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 29% of adults, diabetes for 13%. Conditions and habits ↓
Near a hospital
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Pictou: 1.5 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Pictou 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: #46 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,422 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 (29%) and diabetes (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.
Life expectancy across the 4 health regions in Nova Scotia
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 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Pictou’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Pictou, a hospital is 1.5 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Pictou’s own, not the region’s.
From Pictou 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.
Longer lives than deprivation would give: 1.4 years ahead of the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Pictou’s region comes out above the trend.
Across Canada’s 102 health regions, life expectancy falls as deprivation rises (correlation −0.83). For a region whose residents average 3.8 on the index, the line expects 77.9 years; Pictou’s region reaches 79.3. It outlives 7 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Nova Scotia: 41% to 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 looks weaker than in the province: 44% rate it very good or excellent, against 48% in Nova Scotia, and 24% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Pictou comes 7th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,260 to 3,357 people, median 6.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rankin Inlet NU D | 3,336 | 0.5 km | 39% |
| 2 | Miller AB B+ | 3,294 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 3 | Virden MB B− | 3,322 | 1.1 km | 51% |
| 5 | Bonavista NL C− | 3,293 | 1.2 km | 44% |
| 6 | Inuvik NT C− | 3,337 | 1.4 km | 43% |
| 7 | Pictou NS C− | 3,307 | 1.5 km | 42% |
| 8 | Westwood AB B+ | 3,279 | 1.7 km | 51% |
| 9 | Hill Park ON B | 3,262 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 40 | Arviat NU D− | 3,330 | 216 km | 39% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Pictou
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pictou | 1.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Trenton 9.3 km | 4.6 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| New Glasgow 11 km | 2.0 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Pictou County, Subdivision A 13 km | 13 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Westville 14 km | 5.9 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Stellarton 14 km | 2.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C 16 km | 10 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
Around Pictou the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Pictou County, Subdivision A live further from a hospital, at 13 km against 1.5 km in Pictou.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Pictou shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
Questions about health in Pictou
How is Pictou’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Pictou’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Pictou?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Pictou?
There is no figure for Pictou alone; its health region’s is 81.5 for women and 77.1 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Pictou from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Pictou is 13 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).