Photo: OhanaUnited Talk page · CC BY-SA 4.0Health in Kugluktuk trails almost every Canadian town
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Nunavut, 39% against 39%. Closer to home, a hospital is 434 km from the average resident of Kugluktuk, and 100% live more than 30 km away. Kugluktuk grades D− for health.
What stands out about health in Kugluktuk
More smokers
Around Kugluktuk, 59% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Born around Kugluktuk, 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 ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Kugluktuk live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (435 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Kugluktuk 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
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
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.
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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Nunavut: 42% and 42%
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 15% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 43%, the province 43% (Nunavut).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
The nearest hospital is 434 km from the average home in Kugluktuk
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Kugluktuk’s own, not the region’s.
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
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Kugluktuk 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. 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.
Questions about health in Kugluktuk
How healthy is Kugluktuk?
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 Kugluktuk?
For the health region that includes Kugluktuk, women can expect 72.4 years and men 69.4 (2022/2024).
How far is Kugluktuk from a hospital?
A clinic is 724 km from the average resident of Kugluktuk and a pharmacy 598 km, as the crow flies.
How is Kugluktuk’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Kugluktuk’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).