Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Life expectancy around Dryden is 73.7 years, 7.8 less than for the typical Canadian town
In the health survey, 44% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Ontario’s 51%. What sets Dryden apart within its region is distance, and at 2.6 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Dryden is C, #793 of 866 in Ontario and #2,281 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Dryden
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Dryden’s region falls short of what its deprivation score of 4.4 predicts: 73.7 years against 75.9. For its deprivation ↓
More smokers
Around Dryden, 13% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Less upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 7.2 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 43% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
More households under strain
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Dryden’s neighbourhoods average 4.1 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Dryden 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.
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: #793 of 866 in Ontario and #2,281 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 region lives 2.2 years less than its deprivation predicts
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Dryden’s region is below the line.
The trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a region scored 4.4 about 75.9 years of life. Dryden’s region falls short of it, at 73.7. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median is 78.5 years. A household income of about $84,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (correlation 0.14).
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.
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
Habits · 2023/2024
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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Ontario: 43% to 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
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.
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
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
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Dryden’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
The nearest hospital is 2.6 km from the average home in Dryden
Straight-line distances from each part of Dryden, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Dryden travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Dryden comes 13th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (7,675 to 7,945 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landsdale ON B+ | 7,681 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | Central St. Boniface MB B+ | 7,772 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 3 | Killarney/Glengarry AB A+ | 7,935 | 1.1 km | 56% |
| 11 | Mountview ON B | 7,752 | 2.2 km | 53% |
| 12 | Windsor Park AB A+ | 7,863 | 2.2 km | 56% |
| 13 | Dryden ON C | 7,808 | 2.6 km | 44% |
| 14 | Baie-Saint-Paul QC A+ | 7,760 | 2.8 km | 62% |
| 15 | Beacon Hill South - Cardinal Heights ON A | 7,746 | 3.1 km | 56% |
| 40 | Acton Vale QC B+ | 7,945 | 26 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Dryden’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Dryden
What is the life expectancy in Dryden?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Dryden’s health region only: 75.2 years for women and 72.3 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Dryden?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Dryden’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Dryden: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Dryden from a hospital?
For everyday care, Dryden’s residents are 2.4 km from a pharmacy and 2.0 km from a clinic on average.
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) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. 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).