Photo: sfbnurse https://www.flickr.com/people/sfbnurse/ · CC BY 2.0Fort Simpson scores below 97% of Canadian towns for health
Across the region, 43% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in the Northwest Territories (43%). The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Fort Simpson live 315 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Health gives Fort Simpson a grade of D−.
What stands out about health in Fort Simpson
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Fort Simpson is well above the typical town’s; 20% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Fort Simpson’s region sits 5.1 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 18.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Far from a hospital
Residents of Fort Simpson live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (314 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 8.5 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (44% as answered). Health survey ↓
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.
Fort Simpson 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.
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 (17%) and diabetes (8.1%)
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
Self-reported obesity, 44%, sits within a few points of the Northwest Territories (44%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Life expectancy in the region: 76.4 years
Regional life expectancy in the Northwest Territories, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Fort Simpson, a hospital is 315 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Fort Simpson’s own, not the region’s.
That is further than the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
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.
44% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to the Northwest Territories (44%)
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
The region’s 46% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of the Northwest Territories’s 46%, with 23% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Fort Simpson itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Fort Simpson
What is the life expectancy in Fort Simpson?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 79.4 for women, 73.9 for men around Fort Simpson (2022/2024).
How far is Fort Simpson from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Fort Simpson is 4.7 km from a clinic and 344 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Fort Simpson?
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 17%.
How is Fort Simpson’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Fort Simpson’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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). 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).