Health in Atikokan · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Health in Atikokan trails 92% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 44% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole reaches 51%. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Atikokan live 72 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. The Health grade for Atikokan is D, #862 of 866 in Ontario and #2,537 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Atikokan’s region sits 7.8 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.2 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Atikokan’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 72 km. Getting care ↓
Below the trend for its deprivation
Regions scoring 4.4 on the deprivation index typically live 75.9 years; Atikokan’s region, at 73.7, falls short. For its deprivation ↓
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Atikokan 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
Atikokan 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.
Very good or excellent health (44%)Better than 12% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (16%)Better than 63% of Canadian towns
Smokers (16%)Better than 23% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (73.7)Better than 2% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (72 km)Better than 2% 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: #862 of 866 in Ontario and #2,537 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.
The wider area
Life expectancy across the 34 health regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
73.7
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.2
more years expected at 65
34th
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
This is the shortest-lived of the 34 regions in Ontario, 12.6 years behind the first at 86.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.6
Economic dependency4.4
Ethno-cultural composition1.3
Situational vulnerability4.6
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Atikokan’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Getting care
From Atikokan, a hospital is 72 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Atikokan’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
72 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
1.5 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.5 km
residents’ average distance
1.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
100%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
From Atikokan that is further than the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 2.2 years short of the trend
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Atikokan’s lies below the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 4.4, Atikokan’s region’s 73.7 years sit under the line’s 75.9. All 10 regions closest to it on the index live longer; their middle figure is 78.5 years. Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $84,000 a household, above most regions’, with a life expectancy below most; income and lifespan correlate at only 0.14 across regions.
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.
Conditions and habits
20% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 5.8% diabetes
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
20%
Arthritis
27%
Diabetes
5.8%
Obese (self-reported)
43%
Mood disorder
14%
Anxiety disorder
14%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
16%
Smoke every day
13%
Heavy drinking
31%
Ontario
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 43%, the province 30%. At 31%, 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.
Health survey
43% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Ontario (51%)
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
Health very good or excellent
43%
Health fair or poor
16%
Mental health very good or excellent
44%
Mental health fair or poor
19%
Most days quite a bit stressful
20%
Strong sense of belonging
69%
Satisfied with life
85%
Ontario
On mental health the region is behind Ontario, 44% very good or excellent to 51%; 20% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Atikokan is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,758 to 2,835 people, median 4.1 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
•
Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Atikokan alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
•
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.
Questions about health in Atikokan
What is the life expectancy in Atikokan?
For the health region that includes Atikokan, women can expect 75.2 years and men 72.3 (2022/2024).
How far is Atikokan from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Atikokan is 1.5 km from a clinic and 1.5 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Atikokan?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
How is Atikokan’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Atikokan has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: Nicholas4343 · CC BY-SA 3.0