Health in South Algonquin · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
A hospital trip from South Algonquin means 33 km on average, in a straight line
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 50%; Ontario as a whole is at 51%. For everyday care, the nearest pharmacy is 35 km away on average (0.0 within 3 km). South Algonquin grades C− for health.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Renfrew County and District Health Unit
Chronic conditions
19%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Smoking is commoner around South Algonquin than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 15% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies far off
From the average home in South Algonquin, a pharmacy is 35 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (27%) and diabetes (10%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.4 on the deprivation index typically live 79.2 years; South Algonquin’s region, at 81.0, does better. For its deprivation ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Health Grade
South Algonquin 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 (50%)Better than 38% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (19%)Better than 22% of Canadian towns
Smokers (16%)Better than 22% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.0)Better than 55% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (33 km)Better than 8% 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.
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.
Conditions and habits
27% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% 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
27%
Arthritis
31%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
40%
Mood disorder
16%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
16%
Smoke every day
15%
Heavy drinking
26%
Ontario
At 40%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (26% against 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.
For its deprivation
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.8 years
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding South Algonquin’s lies above the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet South Algonquin’s region beats it: 81.0 years against the 79.2 the trend gives a score of 3.4. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (9 of 10, median 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.
Getting care
Pharmacies around South Algonquin: 0.0 within 3 km, the nearest 35 km away
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is South Algonquin’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
33 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
11 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
35 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
65%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
Residents of South Algonquin 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.
Life expectancy across the 34 health regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
81.0
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.1
more years expected at 65
18th
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 18th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.0
Economic dependency5.0
Ethno-cultural composition1.4
Situational vulnerability5.0
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas South Algonquin’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
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: 48% 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
48%
Health fair or poor
20%
Mental health very good or excellent
55%
Mental health fair or poor
15%
Most days quite a bit stressful
21%
Strong sense of belonging
74%
Satisfied with life
86%
Ontario
On mental health the region is ahead of Ontario, 55% very good or excellent to 51%; 21% 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.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for South Algonquin itself is the trip to care.
•
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.
•
Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
•
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. 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.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in South Algonquin
How far is South Algonquin from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in South Algonquin is 11 km from a clinic and 35 km from a pharmacy.
How is South Algonquin’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus South Algonquin’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is South Algonquin?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
What is the life expectancy in South Algonquin?
Women in South Algonquin’s region live to 83.0 on average and men to 78.7, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
Photo: South Algonquin Business Alliance · CC BY-SA 4.0