Health in Stratford · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Stratford’s health region reports 45% in very good or excellent health, behind the typical Canadian town’s 52%
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 81.7, with women at 83.7 and men at 79.7. Measured from where Stratford’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.8 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Stratford is B, #543 of 866 in Ontario and #1,678 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
The average resident of Stratford can reach 4.7 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.1 km off. Getting care ↓
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
Stratford 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 (1.8 km)Better than 87% 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: #543 of 866 in Ontario and #1,678 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.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 1.8 km from the average home in Stratford
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Stratford’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
1.8 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
0.7 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
1.1 km
residents’ average distance
4.7 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
Stratford is closer in than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
Life expectancy about where the region’s deprivation puts it, a shade above
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Stratford’s region is near the line.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.9, the expected figure is 81.4 years, and Stratford’s region matches it closely with 81.7. 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
19% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.1% 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
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
At 40%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% 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 wider area
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
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
Among the 34 regions in Ontario, from 73.7 to 86.3 years, this one is 11th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.7
Economic dependency3.4
Ethno-cultural composition2.5
Situational vulnerability2.8
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Stratford’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
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
Mental health trails Ontario: 47% very good or excellent to 51%, with 17% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Towns its size
Stratford is 8th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 33,823 to 38,300 people, median 3.0 km.
Every place around Stratford shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Perth East live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 1.8 km in Stratford.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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.
•
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.
•
Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Stratford 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.
Questions about health in Stratford
How healthy is Stratford?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 15%.
How is Stratford’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Stratford’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Stratford from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Stratford is 0.7 km from a clinic and 1.1 km from a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Stratford?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Stratford’s health region only: 83.7 years for women and 79.7 for men (2022/2024).
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0