Health in Wawa · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Lives run shorter around Wawa: 77.9 years, 3.6 below the typical Canadian town’s region
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 46%, behind the 51% for Ontario. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Wawa is well placed: 1.2 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Wawa is C−, #830 of 866 in Ontario and #2,405 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Smoking is commoner around Wawa than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 15% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
No pharmacy close by
From the average home in Wawa, a pharmacy is 143 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Even once age is allowed for, 5.5 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (45% as answered). Health survey ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 30% of adults, diabetes for 9.6%. 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.
Health Grade
Wawa 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 (46%)Better than 16% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (20%)Better than 21% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 13% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (77.9)Better than 9% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (1.2 km)Better than 92% 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: #830 of 866 in Ontario and #2,405 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.
Conditions and habits
30% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.6% diabetes
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
30%
Arthritis
29%
Diabetes
9.6%
Obese (self-reported)
43%
Mood disorder
17%
Anxiety disorder
16%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
17%
Smoke every day
15%
Heavy drinking
20%
Ontario
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 43%, 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.
Getting care
From Wawa, a hospital is 1.2 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Wawa’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
1.2 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
0.8 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
143 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
Wawa is closer in than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
45% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Ontario (51%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
45%
Health fair or poor
19%
Mental health very good or excellent
48%
Mental health fair or poor
14%
Most days quite a bit stressful
17%
Strong sense of belonging
70%
Satisfied with life
88%
Ontario
On mental health the region is behind Ontario, 48% very good or excellent to 51%; 17% 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.
For its deprivation
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Wawa’s, follows the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Wawa belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.8 predicts: 77.9 years, the trend 78.0. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 9 still live longer, with 79.2 years in the middle.
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.
The wider area
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
77.9
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.5
more years expected at 65
30th
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
Ranked 30th of 34 in Ontario: the regions span 73.7 to 86.3 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.2
Economic dependency3.2
Ethno-cultural composition1.3
Situational vulnerability4.1
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Wawa’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.
Towns its size
Among 40 towns its size, Wawa is 4th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,897 to 2,985 people, median 5.1 km.
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
•
What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
•
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.
•
Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Wawa alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
Questions about health in Wawa
What is the life expectancy in Wawa?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Wawa’s health region only: 80.4 years for women and 75.6 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Wawa?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
How is Wawa’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Wawa has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Wawa from a hospital?
For everyday care, Wawa’s residents are 143 km from a pharmacy and 0.8 km from a clinic on average.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0