Health in Geraldton · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
On health, Geraldton falls short of 91% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 49% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole reaches 51%. For Geraldton itself, the measure is access: 21 km to the nearest hospital on average, with 45% of homes beyond 30 km. Health gives Geraldton a grade of D, #858 of 866 in Ontario and #2,525 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Life expectancy in the region around Geraldton runs 5.0 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.2 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Smoking runs high
Smoking is commoner around Geraldton than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 13% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Geraldton’s own health question: 45% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 0.7 km. Getting care ↓
No pharmacy close by
Picking up a prescription in Geraldton takes a trip of 21 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Geraldton 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 (49%)Better than 32% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 38% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 12% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (76.5)Better than 3% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (21 km)Better than 22% 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: #858 of 866 in Ontario and #2,525 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
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
76.5
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.2
more years expected at 65
33rd
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
Of the 34 health regions in Ontario, 33rd place goes to this one, between a low of 73.7 and a high of 86.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.8
Economic dependency3.9
Ethno-cultural composition1.6
Situational vulnerability4.9
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Geraldton’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (8.8%)
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
24%
Arthritis
24%
Diabetes
8.8%
Obese (self-reported)
41%
Mood disorder
15%
Anxiety disorder
17%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
17%
Smoke every day
13%
Heavy drinking
25%
Ontario
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 41%, the province 30%. At 25%, 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.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 21 km from the average home in Geraldton
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Geraldton’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
21 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
22 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
21 km
residents’ average distance
0.4 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
45%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Geraldton is further out than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.7 km, while the average resident is 21 km away.
The region lives 1.5 years less than its deprivation predicts
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Geraldton’s region shows under the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 3.8 would suggest 78.0 years, but Geraldton’s region stops at 76.5. It sits at the foot of the 10 regions closest to it on the index, which centre on 79.2 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.
Health survey
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 48% very good or excellent, against 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
48%
Health fair or poor
19%
Mental health very good or excellent
47%
Mental health fair or poor
18%
Most days quite a bit stressful
18%
Strong sense of belonging
65%
Satisfied with life
85%
Ontario
On mental health the region is behind Ontario, 47% very good or excellent to 51%; 18% 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
Among 40 towns its size, Geraldton is 38th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,312 to 4,483 people, median 4.0 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
•
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. 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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Geraldton shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
•
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.
Questions about health in Geraldton
What is the life expectancy in Geraldton?
Women in Geraldton’s region live to 79.0 on average and men to 74.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Geraldton from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Geraldton is 22 km from a clinic and 21 km from a pharmacy.
How is Geraldton’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Geraldton has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Geraldton?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0