Health in Highland · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Very good or excellent health for 53% of adults in Highland’s health region
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 81.2, with women at 83.5 and men at 79.0. For Highland itself the measure is access: 4.6 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. Highland grades B for health, #623 of 866 in Ontario and #1,872 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Measured across 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
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
13%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.2
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.5 · men 79.0
Nearest hospital
4.6 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Highland 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 (53%)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 48% of Canadian towns
Smokers (13%)Better than 45% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.2)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (4.6 km)Better than 74% 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: #623 of 866 in Ontario and #1,872 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.
For its deprivation
Life expectancy about where the region’s deprivation puts it, a shade above
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Highland’s, follows the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Use the deprivation index alone and Highland’s region, at 3.0, should live about 81.0 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 81.2, near enough. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 5 of 10; their median is 80.9 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
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.5% diabetes
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
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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 28% of adults against 30% for Ontario. More adults drink heavily, 21% to the province’s 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
From Highland, a hospital is 4.6 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Highland’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
4.6 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
2.3 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
2.1 km
residents’ average distance
1.6 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
Residents of Highland travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
Same region, same survey: Highland’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Binbrook is the furthest from care, 9.4 km to Highland’s 4.6 km.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Highland shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
•
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 Highland
How is Highland’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Highland’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Highland?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 17%.
What is the life expectancy in Highland?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.5 for women, 79.0 for men around Highland (2022/2024).
How far is Highland from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Highland is 2.3 km from a clinic and 2.1 km from a pharmacy.