Health in Meaford · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
More smokers around Meaford: 17% of adults, where the typical Canadian town has 12%
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 48% very good or excellent, against 51% in Ontario. Closer to home, a hospital sits 4.6 km from the average resident of Meaford, about the norm of 3.7 km. Health gives Meaford a grade of C+, #718 of 866 in Ontario and #2,119 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Source area for very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy: the Grey Bruce Health Unit
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
17%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.3
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.6 · men 78.9
Nearest hospital
4.6 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Meaford 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.
Very good or excellent health (48%)Better than 24% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 54% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 17% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.3)Better than 61% 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: #718 of 866 in Ontario and #2,119 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
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Meaford’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
At 2.8 on the index, regions tend to reach 81.7 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Meaford belongs to reaches 81.3. Even beside regions as deprived, it stands out: 6 of its 10 closest matches fall short, their median 81.1 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 25% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9%
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
25%
Arthritis
27%
Diabetes
9%
Obese (self-reported)
37%
Mood disorder
14%
Anxiety disorder
12%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
16%
Smoke every day
14%
Heavy drinking
23%
Ontario
Self-reported obesity, 37%, tops Ontario (30%). More adults drink heavily, 23% 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
The nearest hospital is 4.6 km from the average home in Meaford
Straight-line distances from each part of Meaford, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
4.6 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
22 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
4.9 km
residents’ average distance
0.5 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 Meaford 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.
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.
81.3
years at birth, 2022/2024
21.1
more years expected at 65
13th
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, 13th 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 instability2.5
Economic dependency4.2
Ethno-cultural composition1.8
Situational vulnerability2.5
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Meaford’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Health survey
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Ontario: 46% 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
Health very good or excellent
46%
Health fair or poor
16%
Mental health very good or excellent
49%
Mental health fair or poor
14%
Most days quite a bit stressful
23%
Strong sense of belonging
71%
Satisfied with life
89%
Ontario
Neither ahead nor behind Ontario on mental health (49% to 51%), the region has 23% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Meaford comes 23rd of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (12,384 to 12,924 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.7 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
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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 Meaford’s own.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about health in Meaford
How is Meaford’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Meaford’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Meaford?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 17%.
What is the life expectancy in Meaford?
Women in Meaford’s region live to 83.6 on average and men to 78.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Meaford from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Meaford live: 22 km to a clinic, 4.9 km to a pharmacy.
Photo: JustSomePics · CC BY-SA 4.0