Health in Perth South · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Only 45% of adults around Perth South call their health very good or excellent, below the typical Canadian town’s 52%
Life expectancy in the region is 81.7 years (83.7 for women, 79.7 for men, 2022/2024). What sets Perth South apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 7.4 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Perth South a grade of B, #642 of 866 in Ontario and #1,903 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Huron Perth Health Unit
Chronic conditions
15%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
12%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.7
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.7 · men 79.7
Nearest hospital
7.4 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Perth South 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 (45%)Better than 15% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (15%)Better than 66% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 63% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.7)Better than 70% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (7.4 km)Better than 66% 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: #642 of 866 in Ontario and #1,903 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
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Perth South’s region’s dot is close to the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Perth South’s region fits it, 81.7 years at 2.9 against the line’s 81.4. It outlives 8 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 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
High blood pressure for 19% of adults in the region, diabetes for 7.1%
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
19%
Arthritis
25%
Diabetes
7.1%
Obese (self-reported)
40%
Mood disorder
12%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
25%
Ontario
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 40% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 25% to 17%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Perth South: 7.4 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Perth South, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
7.4 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
7.0 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
7.4 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 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
Compared with 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Perth South is on the far side.
Life expectancy across the 34 health 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.
81.7
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.8
more years expected at 65
11th
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
Life expectancy in Ontario runs from 73.7 to 86.3; this region sits 11th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability1.9
Economic dependency2.0
Ethno-cultural composition1.1
Situational vulnerability1.8
This is the one part of the block measured for Perth South 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
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 44% 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
Health very good or excellent
44%
Health fair or poor
14%
Mental health very good or excellent
47%
Mental health fair or poor
16%
Most days quite a bit stressful
17%
Strong sense of belonging
73%
Satisfied with life
86%
Ontario
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Ontario (47% against 51%), while 17% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Perth South comes 22nd of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,002 to 4,122 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 6.6 km.
One health region covers Perth South and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. St. Marys is the closest to care, 1.4 km to Perth South’s 7.4 km.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
•
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.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Perth South alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Perth South
How is Perth South’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Perth South’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Perth South?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Chronic conditions there average 15% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Perth South from a hospital?
A clinic is 7.0 km from the average resident of Perth South and a pharmacy 7.4 km, as the crow flies.
What is the life expectancy in Perth South?
There is no figure for Perth South alone; its health region’s is 83.7 for women and 79.7 for men in 2022/2024.
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0