Health in Hamilton · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Very good or excellent health for 53% of adults in Hamilton’s health region
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 81.2, with women at 83.5 and men at 79.0. Measured from where Hamilton’s residents live, a hospital is 3.9 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. At 13%, the share of adults who smoke tops the 11% for Ontario.
Ontario: 51% · Shared with the rest of the City of Hamilton Health Unit: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
The average resident of Hamilton can reach 16 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.1 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Hamilton isn’t graded for health yet
The inputs, each beside the typical one of Canadian towns: four for the health region, one for the town itself.
53%
very good or excellent health, region (typical town 52%)
17%
chronic conditions, region (typical town 17%)
13%
smokers, region (typical town 12%)
81.2
life expectancy, region (typical town 81.5)
3.9 km
to a hospital, town’s residents (typical town 3.7 km)
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 Hamilton, a hospital is 3.9 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Hamilton, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
3.9 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
2.4 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.1 km
residents’ average distance
16 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
Hamilton is near the provincial norm, 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario, with the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The centre of population is 1.1 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 3.9 km.
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Hamilton’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
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 3.0 would be expected to reach 81.0 years, and Hamilton’s region is close, at 81.2. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 5, with 80.9 years in the middle.
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 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.5%
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
20%
Diabetes
9.5%
Obese (self-reported)
28%
Mood disorder
14%
Anxiety disorder
13%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
13%
Smoke every day
9.4%
Heavy drinking
21%
Ontario
On weight the region is ordinary for Ontario: 28% report obesity, the province 30%. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 21% to 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
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.
81.2
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.4
more years expected at 65
15th
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
This region is 15th longest-lived of 34 in Ontario, on a scale from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.0
Economic dependency3.0
Ethno-cultural composition3.8
Situational vulnerability3.0
This is the one part of the block measured for Hamilton itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Health survey
54% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Ontario (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
54%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
52%
Mental health fair or poor
19%
Most days quite a bit stressful
27%
Strong sense of belonging
63%
Satisfied with life
82%
Ontario
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Ontario (52% against 51%), while 27% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Neighbours
Health in the places around Hamilton
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Inch ParkEastmountHill ParkBurkholmeCentremountSt. ClairHamilton
Around Hamilton the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Eastmount is the closest to care, 0.6 km to Hamilton’s 3.9 km.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
•
What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
•
Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
•
Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
•
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.
•
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 Hamilton’s own.
Questions about health in Hamilton
Does Hamilton have a Health grade?
No letter yet for Hamilton: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Hamilton?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Hamilton?
Women in Hamilton’s region live to 83.5 on average and men to 79.0, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Hamilton from a hospital?
Residents of Hamilton have a clinic 2.4 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.1 km away, in straight lines.
Photo: Laslovarga · CC BY-SA 3.0