Photo: Fabian Roudra Baroi · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places match Downsview for health: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 50%; Ontario as a whole is at 51%. For Downsview itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.3 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Downsview grades A for health, #180 of 866 in Ontario and #671 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Downsview
Longer lives in the region
Born around Downsview, a child can expect 3.2 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 23.0 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 2.8, the trend across regions gives 81.7 years of life; Downsview’s region reaches 84.7. For its deprivation ↓
A hospital close by
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Downsview: 0.8 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
A typical home in Downsview has 25 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.5 km away. 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.
Downsview grades A 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: #180 of 866 in Ontario and #671 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.
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This region is 4th longest-lived of 34 in Ontario, on a scale from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Downsview’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.
A region that outlives its deprivation by 3.0 years
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Downsview’s region’s dot 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 2.8 on the index, the line expects 81.7 years; Downsview’s region reaches 84.7. It tops the 10 regions closest to it on the index, which centre on 81.1 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.
From Downsview, a hospital is 1.3 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Downsview, weighted by who lives there.
From Downsview 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.
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 7.2%
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across Ontario: 23%, the province 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.
Self-rated health much as in Ontario: 51% to 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
For 22% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 50% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near Ontario’s 51%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Downsview comes 8th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (17,591 to 18,557 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bay-Cloverhill ON A | 17,591 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 2 | Downtown Yonge East ON A | 18,251 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 3 | Desmarchais-Crawford QC A | 18,505 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 6 | Sylvan Lake AB C+ | 17,897 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 7 | Auburn Bay AB A+ | 18,296 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 8 | Downsview ON A | 18,055 | 1.3 km | 50% |
| 9 | Mimico-Queensway ON A | 18,207 | 1.5 km | 50% |
| 10 | Parc-Laurier QC A | 18,312 | 1.6 km | 54% |
| 40 | Lake Country BC B− | 17,637 | 20 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Downsview
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downsview | 1.3 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Maple Leaf 1.7 km | 1.2 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Oakdale-Beverley Heights 2.4 km | 1.5 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Rustic 2.7 km | 0.9 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Yorkdale-Glen Park 2.9 km | 1.0 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| York University Heights 3.1 km | 2.4 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Glenfield-Jane Heights 3.1 km | 1.4 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Downsview from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does.
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. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Downsview’s own.
- 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.
Questions about health in Downsview
How is Downsview’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Downsview has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Downsview?
Women in Downsview’s region live to 87.2 on average and men to 82.0, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Downsview?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
How far is Downsview from a hospital?
Residents of Downsview have a clinic 2.2 km away on average and a pharmacy 0.5 km away, in straight lines.
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).