Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Around River West, 52% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 81.3, women 83.5 and men 79.2 (2022/2024). What sets River West apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.4 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives River West a grade of B+.
What stands out about health in River West
Near a hospital
The hospital is close for almost everyone in River West: 1.5 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Harder circumstances
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.7 out of 5, River West sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of River West can reach 13 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.6 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.
River West 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.
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.
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.
The nearest hospital is 1.4 km from the average home in River West
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is River West’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, River West is on the near side.
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.
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.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Ontario runs from 73.7 to 86.3; this region sits 13th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas River West’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.
1.1 years above the line for regions this deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for River West’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
At 3.2 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 80.2 years, and the region River West belongs to reaches 81.3. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do worse (6 of 10), with a median of 80.9.
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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.8% 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 36% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 20% 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.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Ontario (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
Mental health is no outlier: 51% say very good or excellent (Ontario: 51%) and 22% live with 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, River West is 7th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 13,630 to 14,247 people, median 2.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sillery QC A+ | 13,950 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 2 | Sandwich ON B+ | 14,110 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 3 | Greenwood-Coxwell ON A | 14,146 | 0.9 km | 50% |
| 5 | Riverview ON A+ | 14,030 | 1.1 km | 56% |
| 6 | Junction Area ON A | 14,205 | 1.4 km | 50% |
| 7 | River West ON B+ | 13,940 | 1.4 km | 52% |
| 8 | Terrace BC C− | 13,648 | 1.6 km | 42% |
| 9 | Sandy Hill ON A+ | 13,830 | 1.6 km | 56% |
| 40 | Warman SK B | 14,245 | 18 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around River West
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River West | 1.4 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| City Centre 1.6 km | 0.9 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| Sandwich 2.1 km | 0.8 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| South Central 2.3 km | 0.6 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| South Cameron 2.7 km | 1.9 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| Walkerville 3.3 km | 1.4 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
| South Walkerville 4.7 km | 0.8 km | 52% | 81.3 | B+ |
Same region, same survey: River West’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: River West shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in River West
How is River West’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far River West’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is River West from a hospital?
A clinic is 0.7 km from the average resident of River West and a pharmacy 0.6 km, as the crow flies.
What is the life expectancy in River West?
There is no figure for River West alone; its health region’s is 83.5 for women and 79.2 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is River West?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
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).