Health in Chatham · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Chatham’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.9 years: life expectancy 78.6
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 57%, ahead of the 51% for Ontario. Closer to home, a hospital is 8.5 km from the average resident of Chatham, further than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Chatham is C+, #759 of 866 in Ontario and #2,210 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Smoking is commoner around Chatham than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 16% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
More people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 5.5 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 55% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
A typical home in Chatham has 4.6 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 3.5 km away. Getting care ↓
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
Chatham 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 (57%)Better than 81% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 38% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 12% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (78.6)Better than 16% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (8.5 km)Better than 61% 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: #759 of 866 in Ontario and #2,210 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 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 13%
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
22%
Arthritis
27%
Diabetes
13%
Obese (self-reported)
43%
Mood disorder
11%
Anxiety disorder
14%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
17%
Smoke every day
16%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 43% of adults against 30% for Ontario.
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
55% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Ontario (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
55%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
57%
Mental health fair or poor
14%
Most days quite a bit stressful
18%
Strong sense of belonging
66%
Satisfied with life
86%
Ontario
Mental health beats Ontario as well: 57% very good or excellent to 51%, with 18% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting care
From Chatham, a hospital is 8.5 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Chatham’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
8.5 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
4.4 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
3.5 km
residents’ average distance
4.6 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
Chatham 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 0.9 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 8.5 km.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Chatham’s region shows close to the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 3.6 would be expected to reach 78.8 years, and Chatham’s region is close, at 78.6. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (6 of 10, median 79.0 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.
The wider area
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
78.6
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.1
more years expected at 65
29th
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
Among the 34 regions in Ontario, from 73.7 to 86.3 years, this one is 29th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.9
Economic dependency4.0
Ethno-cultural composition2.3
Situational vulnerability3.6
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Chatham’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Towns its size
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Chatham comes 37th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 81,813 to 153,865 people, median 3.6 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
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Chatham alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
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.
Questions about health in Chatham
What is the life expectancy in Chatham?
Women in Chatham’s region live to 80.8 on average and men to 76.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Chatham?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
How far is Chatham from a hospital?
A clinic is 4.4 km from the average resident of Chatham and a pharmacy 3.5 km, as the crow flies.
How is Chatham’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Chatham’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
Photo: Rub-a-dub Hedgehog · CC BY 4.0