Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 3.0Westville scores below 86% of Canadian towns for health
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 42%, behind the 48% for Nova Scotia. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Westville’s is long: 5.9 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Westville grades D for health, #59 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,468 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Westville
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Westville is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 9.6 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 41%. Health survey ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Westville’s region sits 2.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.2 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
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 ↓
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.
Westville 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: #59 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,468 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.
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.
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
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
This is the one part of the block measured for Westville itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
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
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Westville’s region shows above the trend.
At 3.8 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 77.9 years, and the region Westville belongs to reaches 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.
The nearest hospital is 5.9 km from the average home in Westville
Straight-line distances from each part of Westville, weighted by who lives there.
Westville is closer in than the provincial norm of 9.2 km in Nova Scotia, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Westville comes 24th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,672 to 3,787 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central ON B | 3,698 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 2 | Meadowgreen SK A− | 3,782 | 1.0 km | 49% |
| 3 | Eau Claire AB A+ | 3,733 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 22 | Golf Course ON B | 3,741 | 4.9 km | 53% |
| 23 | Cameron Heights AB B | 3,710 | 5.6 km | 51% |
| 24 | Westville NS D | 3,731 | 5.9 km | 42% |
| 25 | Ascot Corner QC A | 3,725 | 6.1 km | 57% |
| 26 | Baie-D'Urfé QC A− | 3,706 | 7.4 km | 54% |
| 40 | Cartier MB C | 3,739 | 30 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Westville
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westville | 5.9 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Pictou County, Subdivision B 3.8 km | 9.6 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Stellarton 4.2 km | 2.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| New Glasgow 6.6 km | 2.0 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Trenton 9.1 km | 4.6 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
| Pictou County, Subdivision C 12 km | 10 km | 42% | 79.3 | D |
| Pictou 14 km | 1.5 km | 42% | 79.3 | C− |
Westville and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Pictou is the closest to care, 1.5 km to Westville’s 5.9 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Westville itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
Questions about health in Westville
How healthy is Westville?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
What is the life expectancy in Westville?
For the health region that includes Westville, women can expect 81.5 years and men 77.1 (2022/2024).
How is Westville’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Westville: 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 Westville from a hospital?
Residents of Westville have a pharmacy 1.0 km away on average, in a straight line.
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).