Health in Fergus · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Around Fergus, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Lives in the region last 82.4 years on average (2022/2024): 84.5 for women, 80.2 for men. What sets Fergus apart within its region is distance, and at 3.5 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). Fergus grades B+ for health, #495 of 866 in Ontario and #1,394 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
With 5.1 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.9 km off, Fergus is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Fergus 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 (51%)Better than 44% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 56% of Canadian towns
Smokers (13%)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (82.4)Better than 79% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (3.5 km)Better than 78% 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: #495 of 866 in Ontario and #1,394 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.
Getting care
From Fergus, a hospital is 3.5 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Fergus, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
3.5 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
3.7 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.9 km
residents’ average distance
5.1 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
For distance to care Fergus is ordinary: 3.3 km is the typical figure in Ontario, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town.
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Fergus’ region comes out on the trend.
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 2.4, the expected figure is 83.0 years, and Fergus’ region matches it closely with 82.4. It is outlived by 8 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 83.0 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.
Conditions and habits
High blood pressure for 19% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.3%
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
19%
Arthritis
22%
Diabetes
8.3%
Obese (self-reported)
31%
Mood disorder
12%
Anxiety disorder
15%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
13%
Smoke every day
9.5%
Heavy drinking
22%
Ontario
At 31%, self-reported obesity is near Ontario’s 30%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (22% against 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.
The wider area
Life expectancy across the 34 health 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.
82.4
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.9
more years expected at 65
8th
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 8th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.5
Economic dependency2.7
Ethno-cultural composition2.5
Situational vulnerability1.9
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Fergus’ 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.
Health survey
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to 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
51%
Health fair or poor
13%
Mental health very good or excellent
49%
Mental health fair or poor
15%
Most days quite a bit stressful
23%
Strong sense of belonging
65%
Satisfied with life
86%
Ontario
Asked about their mental health, 49% of adults here said very good or excellent; across Ontario it was 51%, and 23% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Fergus is 26th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (32,124 to 37,226 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.0 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
•
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.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Fergus itself is the trip to care.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about health in Fergus
What is the life expectancy in Fergus?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.5 for women, 80.2 for men around Fergus (2022/2024).
How is Fergus’ Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Fergus has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Fergus?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 17% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Fergus from a hospital?
Residents of Fergus have a clinic 3.7 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.9 km away, in straight lines.
Photo: Onasill ~ Bill - 103 Million Views - Thank You · CC BY-SA 2.0