Health in Central Elgin · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Around Central Elgin, 49% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 80.6, women 83.0 and men 78.2 (2022/2024). Measured from where Central Elgin’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 6.8 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Central Elgin is B−, #688 of 866 in Ontario and #2,023 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Oxford Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
12%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
80.6
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.0 · men 78.2
Nearest hospital
6.8 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Central Elgin grades B− 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 35% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 40% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 59% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (80.6)Better than 49% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (6.8 km)Better than 68% 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: #688 of 866 in Ontario and #2,023 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.
For its deprivation
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 0.8 years short of the trend
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Central Elgin’s region’s dot is under the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.9, the expected figure is 81.4 years, and Central Elgin’s region falls below with 80.6. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 8 of 10; their median is 81.4 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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (10%)
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
22%
Arthritis
23%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
38%
Mood disorder
20%
Anxiety disorder
15%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
9.9%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
At 38%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%.
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.
Getting care
From Central Elgin, a hospital is 6.8 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Central Elgin’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
6.8 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
6.0 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
7.1 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
Compared with 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Central Elgin is on the far side. The centre of population is 2.5 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 6.8 km.
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Central Elgin’s; read across for the hospital trip. Residents of Malahide live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 6.8 km in Central Elgin.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
•
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.
•
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 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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Central Elgin alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
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.
Questions about health in Central Elgin
How is Central Elgin’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Central Elgin’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Central Elgin?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Central Elgin?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.0 for women, 78.2 for men around Central Elgin (2022/2024).
How far is Central Elgin from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Central Elgin is 6.0 km from a clinic and 7.1 km from a pharmacy.
Photo: Tudor Costache · CC BY-SA 3.0