Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Watford’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 1.5 years: life expectancy 80.0
Adults here are less upbeat about their health than the province: 49% very good or excellent, against 51% in Ontario. What sets Watford apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 16 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Watford is C, #787 of 866 in Ontario and #2,259 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Watford
A long way to hospital
Distance is Watford’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 18 km. Getting care ↓
Shorter lives than its deprivation predicts
For a deprivation score of 2.8, the trend across regions gives 81.7 years of life; Watford’s region reaches only 80.0. For its deprivation ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 16 km from the average home in Watford, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
A region that smokes more
Around Watford, 12% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Watford 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.
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: #787 of 866 in Ontario and #2,259 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.
From Watford, a hospital is 16 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Watford, weighted by who lives there.
From Watford that is further 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.7 years short of the trend
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Watford’s lies below the line.
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of Watford’s region’s: 80.0 years where the line expects 81.7 at 2.8. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (8 of 10), with a median of 81.3. Households here earn around $83,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (correlation 0.14).
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.
23% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.4% diabetes
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 37% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 24% 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.
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Ontario runs from 73.7 to 86.3; this region sits 24th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Watford itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Ontario: 48% 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
The region’s 51% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Ontario’s 51%, with 22% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Watford is 34th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,881 to 4,031 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stinson ON B+ | 3,969 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 2 | Leila North MB B+ | 3,966 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 3 | Fort Macleod AB B | 3,945 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 32 | Lamont County AB C | 3,918 | 16 km | 52% |
| 33 | Saint-Faustin--Lac-Carré QC A | 4,009 | 16 km | 60% |
| 34 | Watford ON C | 3,955 | 16 km | 49% |
| 35 | East Lawrencetown NS B− | 4,020 | 17 km | 51% |
| 36 | Cap-Santé QC A | 3,885 | 20 km | 62% |
| 40 | Forty Mile County No. 8 AB C | 3,927 | 29 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Watford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watford | 16 km | 49% | 80.0 | C |
| Brooke-Alvinston 15 km | 15 km | 49% | 80.0 | C |
| Adelaide-Metcalfe 18 km | 7.5 km | 52% | 81.9 | B+ |
Across a regional line, Adelaide-Metcalfe has its own figures: life expectancy 81.9, against 80.0 here. Adelaide-Metcalfe is the closest to care, 7.5 km to Watford’s 16 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Watford alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
Questions about health in Watford
How far is Watford from a hospital?
Residents of Watford have a clinic 18 km away on average and a pharmacy 16 km away, in straight lines.
What is the life expectancy in Watford?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.2 for women, 77.8 for men around Watford (2022/2024).
How healthy is Watford?
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 is Watford’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Watford: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
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).