Photo: Ansgar Walk · CC BY-SA 2.5On health, Arviat falls short of 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%. For Arviat itself, the measure is access: 216 km to the nearest hospital on average, with 100% of homes beyond 30 km. Health gives Arviat a grade of D−.
What stands out about health in Arviat
More smokers
Around Arviat, 59% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Born around Arviat, a child can expect 10.6 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 16.2 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Less upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 12.4 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 42% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Far from a hospital
For 100% of homes in Arviat the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 217 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.
Arviat 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.
18% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 5% diabetes
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
At 32%, self-reported obesity is near Nunavut’s 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
Regional life expectancy in Nunavut, 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.
Self-rated health much as in Nunavut: 42% to 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 wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 43% very good or excellent against 43% for Nunavut; stress is a daily matter for 15%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Arviat: 216 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Arviat’s own, not the region’s.
Most places are nearer: 3.7 km for 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.
Arviat is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,279 to 3,383 people, median 4.8 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% |
| 38 | North Kawartha ON C− | 3,355 | 38 km | 47% |
| 39 | Division No. 19, Unorganized MB D | 3,324 | 56 km | 50% |
| 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Arviat shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- 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. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
Questions about health in Arviat
How healthy is Arviat?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Arviat?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Arviat’s health region only: 72.4 years for women and 69.4 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Arviat from a hospital?
Residents of Arviat have a clinic 260 km away on average and a pharmacy 0.6 km away, in straight lines.
How is Arviat’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Arviat has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance 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).