Health in Walkerton · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
More smokers around Walkerton: 17% of adults, where the typical Canadian town has 12%
In the health survey, 48% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Ontario’s 51%. Closer to home, a hospital sits 4.0 km from the average resident of Walkerton, about the norm of 3.7 km. The Health grade for Walkerton is C+, #714 of 866 in Ontario and #2,104 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Ontario: 51% · Very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy for the Grey Bruce Health Unit
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Ontario: 17%
Smokers
17%
daily or occasional, age-standardised
Ontario: 11%
Life expectancy
81.3
at birth, 2022/2024
women 83.6 · men 78.9
Nearest hospital
4.0 km
residents’ average, straight line
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Health Grade
Walkerton 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 (48%)Better than 24% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 54% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 17% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.3)Better than 61% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (4.0 km)Better than 76% 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: #714 of 866 in Ontario and #2,104 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
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Walkerton’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 Walkerton’s region fits it, 81.3 years at 2.8 against the line’s 81.7. It outlives 6 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (25%) and diabetes (9%)
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
25%
Arthritis
27%
Diabetes
9%
Obese (self-reported)
37%
Mood disorder
14%
Anxiety disorder
12%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
16%
Smoke every day
14%
Heavy drinking
23%
Ontario
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 37% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 23% to 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.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Walkerton: 4.0 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Walkerton’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
4.0 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
4.7 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
12 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
Residents of Walkerton travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
Every place around Walkerton shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Mildmay live further from a hospital, at 11 km against 4.0 km in Walkerton.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
•
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.
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Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
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Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Walkerton alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
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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.
Questions about health in Walkerton
How is Walkerton’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Walkerton’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Walkerton?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 17%.
What is the life expectancy in Walkerton?
Women in Walkerton’s region live to 83.6 on average and men to 78.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Walkerton from a hospital?
A clinic is 4.7 km from the average resident of Walkerton and a pharmacy 12 km, as the crow flies.
Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0