Photo: Timkal · CC BY-SA 3.0Health in Arctic Bay trails almost every Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 39%; Nunavut as a whole is at 39%. Measured from where Arctic Bay’s residents live, a hospital is 833 km away on average and 100% of them are over 30 km out. The Health grade for Arctic Bay is D−.
What stands out about health in Arctic Bay
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Arctic Bay is well above the typical town’s; 59% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Arctic Bay’s region sits 10.6 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 16.2 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 12.4 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 42%. Health survey ↓
A long way to hospital
For 100% of homes in Arctic Bay the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 833 km. Getting care ↓
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.
Arctic Bay 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 (18%) and diabetes (5%)
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
On weight the region is ordinary for Nunavut: 32% report obesity, the province 32%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
One region, one figure: 70.9 years of life
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Nunavut, 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Nunavut: 42% and 42%
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 is no outlier: 43% say very good or excellent (Nunavut: 43%) and 15% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Arctic Bay, a hospital is 833 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Arctic Bay, 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Arctic Bay alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
Questions about health in Arctic Bay
How healthy is Arctic Bay?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Arctic Bay?
Women in Arctic Bay’s region live to 72.4 on average and men to 69.4, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Arctic Bay from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Arctic Bay is 1,633 km from a clinic and 1,171 km from a pharmacy.
How is Arctic Bay’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Arctic Bay: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with 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).