Health in Belfast · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Belfast’s health region
A baby born in the region can expect 81.2 years, 83.3 for a girl and 79.1 for a boy (2022/2024). Measured from where Belfast’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 21 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Belfast grades B− for health.
Prince Edward Island: 51% · Shared with the rest of the Prince Edward Island health region: very good or excellent health, chronic conditions, smokers and life expectancy
Chronic conditions
17%
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure: average share
Residents of Belfast live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (21 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
Picking up a prescription in Belfast takes a trip of 21 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Belfast 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.
Very good or excellent health (51%)Better than 42% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 49% of Canadian towns
Smokers (12%)Better than 73% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (81.2)Better than 58% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (21 km)Better than 22% 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.
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.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Belfast: 21 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Belfast, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
21 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
21 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
21 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 Belfast travel further than most of the province: the typical town on Prince Edward Island is 8.5 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Belfast’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.8 about 81.6 years; Belfast’s region’s 81.2 is within a year of it. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 5 of 10; their median is 81.1 years. On income alone, around $74,000 a household, this region would be expected to fare worse than most, yet it lives longer; between regions the link is weak (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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.3%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
High blood pressure
22%
Arthritis
23%
Diabetes
9.3%
Obese (self-reported)
37%
Mood disorder
14%
Anxiety disorder
13%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
12%
Smoke every day
8.6%
Heavy drinking
23%
Flu shot in the past year
45%
Prince Edward Island
On weight the region is ordinary for Prince Edward Island: 37% report obesity, the province 37%.
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.
The wider area
Life expectancy in the region: 81.2 years
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region on Prince Edward Island, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
81.2
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.1
more years expected at 65
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.4
Economic dependency3.5
Ethno-cultural composition1.3
Situational vulnerability2.7
This is the one part of the block measured for Belfast 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.
Health survey
About as many rate their health highly here as in Prince Edward Island: 50% and 50%
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
Health very good or excellent
50%
Health fair or poor
18%
Mental health very good or excellent
50%
Mental health fair or poor
17%
Most days quite a bit stressful
19%
Strong sense of belonging
67%
Satisfied with life
86%
Prince Edward Island
Mental health reads like the rest of Prince Edward Island: 50% against 50%, and 19% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Neighbours
Health in the places around Belfast
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
The neighbours all sit in Belfast’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
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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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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 Belfast’s own.
•
Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Belfast
How is Belfast’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Belfast: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Belfast from a hospital?
A clinic is 21 km from the average resident of Belfast and a pharmacy 21 km, as the crow flies.
How healthy is Belfast?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 17% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Belfast?
There is no figure for Belfast alone; its health region’s is 83.3 for women and 79.1 for men in 2022/2024.
Photo: Marty Aligata · CC BY-SA 4.0