Photo: Tier2Cell245 · CC BY 4.0Pembroke’s health region counts 16% of adults who smoke, above the typical Canadian town’s 12%
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 50% very good or excellent, 51% for Ontario. What sets Pembroke apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.5 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Pembroke a grade of C+, #728 of 866 in Ontario and #2,144 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Pembroke
Ahead of regions as deprived
Pembroke’s region beats what its deprivation score of 3.4 predicts: 81.0 years against 79.2. For its deprivation ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 27% report high blood pressure and 10% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
A hospital close by
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Pembroke; from its centre of population the trip is 1.2 km. Getting care ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 6.1 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.7 km off, Pembroke is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Pembroke 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.
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: #728 of 866 in Ontario and #2,144 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 region lives 1.8 years longer than its deprivation predicts
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Pembroke’s region is above the line.
Across Canada’s 102 health regions, life expectancy falls as deprivation rises (correlation −0.83). For a region whose residents average 3.4 on the index, the line expects 79.2 years; Pembroke’s region reaches 81.0. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 79.1 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (27%) and diabetes (10%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 40%, the province 30%. At 26%, 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 to hospital from Pembroke: 1.5 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Pembroke’s own, not the region’s.
From Pembroke that is nearer than the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
Life expectancy across the 34 health regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
The region comes 18th of 34 in Ontario, where life expectancy runs from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Pembroke’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Ontario (55% against 51%), while 21% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Pembroke is 7th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 15,181 to 15,792 people, median 2.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trinity-Bellwoods ON A | 15,691 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 2 | Little Portugal ON A | 15,669 | 0.8 km | 50% |
| 3 | Loretteville QC A+ | 15,653 | 1.0 km | 62% |
| 5 | Lairet QC A+ | 15,251 | 1.2 km | 62% |
| 6 | Edgemont AB A+ | 15,359 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 7 | Pembroke ON C+ | 15,479 | 1.5 km | 50% |
| 8 | Pointe-Saint-Charles QC A | 15,181 | 1.6 km | 54% |
| 9 | High River AB A+ | 15,508 | 1.7 km | 56% |
| 40 | Sainte-Adèle QC A | 15,216 | 16 km | 60% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Pembroke
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pembroke | 1.5 km | 50% | 81.0 | C+ |
| Laurentian Valley 4.1 km | 6.7 km | 50% | 81.0 | C+ |
| L'Isle-aux-Allumettes 9.9 km | 8.4 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Petawawa 14 km | 15 km | 50% | 81.0 | C |
Not every neighbour shares the region: L'Isle-aux-Allumettes’s life expectancy is 80.7, this region’s 81.0. Petawawa is the furthest from care, 15 km to Pembroke’s 1.5 km.
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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Pembroke shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- 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. 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. 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.
Questions about health in Pembroke
How is Pembroke’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Pembroke’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Pembroke?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 19% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Pembroke?
For the health region that includes Pembroke, women can expect 83.0 years and men 78.7 (2022/2024).
How far is Pembroke from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Pembroke live: 1.3 km to a clinic, 0.7 km to a pharmacy.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).