Photo: awmcphee · CC0Fort Smith scores below 97% of Canadian towns for health
Self-rated health is ordinary for the Northwest Territories: 43% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 43%. What sets Fort Smith apart within its region is distance: 231 km to a hospital on average, over 30 km for 100% of residents. Health gives Fort Smith a grade of D−.
What stands out about health in Fort Smith
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Fort Smith is well above the typical town’s; 20% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Fort Smith runs 5.1 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 18.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Fort Smith live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (231 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 ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Fort Smith 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.
17% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.1% diabetes
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
At 44%, self-reported obesity is near the Northwest Territories’s 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
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in the Northwest Territories, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
The nearest hospital is 231 km from the average home in Fort Smith
Straight-line distances from each part of Fort Smith, weighted by who lives there.
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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in the Northwest Territories: 44% and 44%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Stress touches 23% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 46%, the province 46% (the Northwest Territories).
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
- 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.
- 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. 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 Smith itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Fort Smith
What is the life expectancy in Fort Smith?
There is no figure for Fort Smith alone; its health region’s is 79.4 for women and 73.9 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Fort Smith from a hospital?
For everyday care, Fort Smith’s residents are 1.5 km from a pharmacy and 1.7 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Fort Smith?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
How is Fort Smith’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Fort Smith’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
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).