Photo: CambridgeBayWeather · Public domainOn health, Cambridge Bay falls short of 91% of Canadian towns
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Nunavut, 39% against 39%. Closer to home, a hospital is just 2.0 km from the average resident of Cambridge Bay, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Cambridge Bay is D.
What stands out about health in Cambridge Bay
Smoking runs high
Around Cambridge Bay, 59% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Cambridge 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 ↓
No pharmacy close by
Picking up a prescription in Cambridge Bay takes a trip of 851 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Cambridge 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.
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 32% of adults against 32% for Nunavut.
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.
42% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Nunavut (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 close to the province’s: 43% rate it very good or excellent, against 43% in Nunavut, and 15% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Cambridge Bay: 2.0 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Cambridge Bay’s own, not the region’s.
Most places are further: 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Cambridge Bay shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Cambridge Bay
How healthy is Cambridge Bay?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Cambridge Bay?
There is no figure for Cambridge Bay alone; its health region’s is 72.4 for women and 69.4 for men in 2022/2024.
How is Cambridge Bay’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Cambridge Bay: 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 Cambridge Bay from a hospital?
A clinic is 1,062 km from the average resident of Cambridge Bay and a pharmacy 851 km, as the crow flies.
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).