Health in Alexandria · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
49% of adults around Alexandria rate their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 81.0, women 83.0 and men 78.9 (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Alexandria’s is long: 7.5 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Alexandria is C+, #736 of 866 in Ontario and #2,161 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
The age-standardised smoking rate around Alexandria is well above the typical town’s; 13% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Health Grade
Alexandria grades C+ for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
Very good or excellent health (49%)Better than 37% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (19%)Better than 29% of Canadian towns
Smokers (14%)Better than 38% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.0)Better than 55% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (7.5 km)Better than 66% of Canadian towns
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. Its place: #736 of 866 in Ontario and #2,161 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
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.
Conditions and habits
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 11%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
23%
Arthritis
29%
Diabetes
11%
Obese (self-reported)
39%
Mood disorder
16%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
14%
Smoke every day
13%
Heavy drinking
22%
Ontario
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 39%, the province 30%. At 22%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 17%.
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.
For its deprivation
Barely ahead of regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Alexandria’s dot is marked, close to the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Alexandria belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.2 predicts: 81.0 years, the trend 80.3. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 81.0 years.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
Getting care
From Alexandria, a hospital is 7.5 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Alexandria, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
7.5 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
14 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
6.4 km
residents’ average distance
0.8 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Alexandria is further out than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The centre of population is 3.3 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 7.5 km.
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Ontario, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
81.0
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.9
more years expected at 65
18th
longest of 34 regions in Ontario
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
York Regional Health Unit86.3
Peel Regional Health Unit85.3
Halton Regional Health Unit84.9
City of Toronto Health Unit84.7
City of Ottawa Health Unit83.7
Waterloo Health Unit82.8
Durham Regional Health Unit82.6
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit82.4
Middlesex-London Health Unit81.9
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Health Unit81.8
Huron Perth Health Unit81.7
Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit81.5
Grey Bruce Health Unit81.3
Windsor-Essex County Health Unit81.3
City of Hamilton Health Unit81.2
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit81.2
Niagara Regional Area Health Unit81.2
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit81.0
Renfrew County and District Health Unit81.0
The Eastern Ontario Health Unit81.0
Oxford Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit80.6
Peterborough County—City Health Unit80.5
Brant County Health Unit80.4
Lambton Health Unit80.0
North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit80.0
Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit79.8
Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit79.6
Sudbury and District Health Unit79.1
Chatham-Kent Health Unit78.6
The District of Algoma Health Unit77.9
Porcupine Health Unit77.3
Timiskaming Health Unit77.0
Thunder Bay District Health Unit76.5
Northwestern Health Unit73.7
Ranked 18th of 34 in Ontario: the regions span 73.7 to 86.3 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.0
Economic dependency3.8
Ethno-cultural composition1.6
Situational vulnerability3.7
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Alexandria’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Health survey
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Ontario: 48% to 51%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
48%
Health fair or poor
22%
Mental health very good or excellent
53%
Mental health fair or poor
15%
Most days quite a bit stressful
27%
Strong sense of belonging
60%
Satisfied with life
87%
Ontario
Mental health is no outlier: 53% say very good or excellent (Ontario: 51%) and 27% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Alexandria comes 29th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (10,498 to 11,034 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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. Only the distances on this page belong to Alexandria alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about health in Alexandria
How healthy is Alexandria?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
How far is Alexandria from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Alexandria is 14 km from a clinic and 6.4 km from a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Alexandria?
Women in Alexandria’s region live to 83.0 on average and men to 78.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Alexandria’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Alexandria’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0