Photo: Gordon Leggett · CC BY-SA 4.0For health, Gjoa Haven sits behind almost every Canadian town
Across the region, 39% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Nunavut (39%). The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Gjoa Haven live 372 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Health gives Gjoa Haven a grade of D−.
What stands out about health in Gjoa Haven
A region that smokes more
Around Gjoa Haven, 59% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Born around Gjoa Haven, 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 ↓
Fewer people feeling well
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 ↓
A long way to hospital
For 100% of homes in Gjoa Haven the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 371 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Gjoa Haven 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
About as many adults report obesity as across Nunavut: 32%, 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.
Life expectancy in the region: 70.9 years
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 health reads like the rest of Nunavut: 43% against 43%, and 15% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Gjoa Haven: 372 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Gjoa Haven’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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Gjoa Haven’s own.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
Questions about health in Gjoa Haven
How healthy is Gjoa Haven?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Gjoa Haven?
For the health region that includes Gjoa Haven, women can expect 72.4 years and men 69.4 (2022/2024).
How far is Gjoa Haven from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Gjoa Haven is 1,099 km from a clinic and 669 km from a pharmacy.
How is Gjoa Haven’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Gjoa Haven’s own distance to care, 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).