Health in Southwold · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
49% of adults around Southwold rate their health very good or excellent
A baby born in the region can expect 80.6 years, 83.0 for a girl and 78.2 for a boy (2022/2024). What sets Southwold apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 8.4 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Southwold grades B− for health, #700 of 866 in Ontario and #2,050 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Area-wide: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy, counted over the Oxford Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit
Chronic conditions
18%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
12%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
80.6
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.0 · men 78.2
Nearest hospital
8.4 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Southwold 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 (49%)Better than 35% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (18%)Better than 40% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 59% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (80.6)Better than 49% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (8.4 km)Better than 62% 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: #700 of 866 in Ontario and #2,050 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
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 0.8 years behind the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Southwold’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.9 would suggest 81.4 years, but Southwold’s region stops at 80.6. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 8 of 10; their median is 81.4 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
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% diabetes
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
22%
Arthritis
23%
Diabetes
10%
Obese (self-reported)
38%
Mood disorder
20%
Anxiety disorder
15%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
9.9%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
At 38%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%.
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 Southwold, a hospital is 8.4 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Southwold, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
8.4 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
7.6 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
8.9 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
Southwold is further out than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
80.6
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.9
more years expected at 65
21st
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
Among the 34 regions in Ontario, from 73.7 to 86.3 years, this one is 21st.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability1.7
Economic dependency2.7
Ethno-cultural composition1.9
Situational vulnerability1.8
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Southwold’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
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Ontario (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
49%
Health fair or poor
16%
Mental health very good or excellent
50%
Mental health fair or poor
17%
Most days quite a bit stressful
23%
Strong sense of belonging
63%
Satisfied with life
84%
Ontario
On mental health the region tracks Ontario, 50% very good or excellent to 51%; 23% 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
Southwold is 27th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,368 to 5,568 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.0 km.
Across a regional line, Oneida 41 has its own figures: life expectancy 81.9, against 80.6 here. Residents of Oneida 41 live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 8.4 km in Southwold.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
•
Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Southwold itself is the trip to care.
•
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.
•
Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
•
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.
Questions about health in Southwold
How is Southwold’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Southwold’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Southwold?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
How far is Southwold from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Southwold is 7.6 km from a clinic and 8.9 km from a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Southwold?
Women in Southwold’s region live to 83.0 on average and men to 78.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
Photo: Unknown. Canada. Department of National Defence. · Public domain