Health in Merrickville · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Around Merrickville, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 81.2, women 83.3 and men 79.2 (2022/2024). For Merrickville itself the measure is access, and it lags: 5.4 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Merrickville grades B− for health, #675 of 866 in Ontario and #1,983 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
14%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.2
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.3 · men 79.2
Nearest hospital
5.4 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Merrickville 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 (18%)Better than 47% of Canadian towns
Smokers (14%)Better than 39% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.2)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (5.4 km)Better than 72% 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: #675 of 866 in Ontario and #1,983 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
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Merrickville’s region’s dot is close to the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.9 about 81.3 years; Merrickville’s region’s 81.2 is within a year of it. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 4 above, 4 below, a median of 81.2 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.
Conditions and habits
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.6% 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
24%
Arthritis
34%
Diabetes
7.6%
Obese (self-reported)
38%
Mood disorder
15%
Anxiety disorder
18%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
14%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
21%
Ontario
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 38%, the province 30%. At 21%, 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
From Merrickville, a hospital is 5.4 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Merrickville, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
5.4 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
16 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
5.3 km
residents’ average distance
0.3 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
From Merrickville that is further than the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
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
20.5
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
Ranked 15th of 34 in Ontario: the regions span 73.7 to 86.3 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.6
Economic dependency3.9
Ethno-cultural composition1.7
Situational vulnerability2.0
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Merrickville’s 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
Self-rated health much as in Ontario: 49% to 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
49%
Health fair or poor
20%
Mental health very good or excellent
56%
Mental health fair or poor
15%
Most days quite a bit stressful
22%
Strong sense of belonging
65%
Satisfied with life
86%
Ontario
On mental health the region is ahead of Ontario, 56% very good or excellent to 51%; 22% 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
Merrickville is 20th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,351 to 3,473 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.7 km.
Nothing in the regional columns separates Merrickville from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Smiths Falls live nearer a hospital, at 1.4 km against 5.4 km in Merrickville.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Merrickville shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
•
Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
•
Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
•
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.
•
Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
Questions about health in Merrickville
How is Merrickville’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Merrickville’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Merrickville from a hospital?
For everyday care, Merrickville’s residents are 5.3 km from a pharmacy and 16 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Merrickville?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 18%.
What is the life expectancy in Merrickville?
Women in Merrickville’s region live to 83.3 on average and men to 79.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
Photo: Martin Cathrae from Charlottetown, PE, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0