Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0A hospital trip from Acton Vale means 26 km on average, in a straight line
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Quebec, 55% against 57%. Pharmacies are closer at hand, 1.6 km away on average and 1.5 of them within 3 km of a typical home. Health gives Acton Vale a grade of B+, #410 of 503 in Quebec and #1,246 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Acton Vale
Long-term conditions run low
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 21% of adults, diabetes for 9.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Acton Vale’s region sits 1.0 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 20.5 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
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.
Acton Vale 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. Its place: #410 of 503 in Quebec and #1,246 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.
21% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.9% 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
At 32%, self-reported obesity is near Quebec’s 29%.
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.
How the 18 health regions in Quebec compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Quebec, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 18 regions in Quebec, from 65.2 to 84.1 years, this one is 6th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Acton Vale’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Acton Vale’s, follows the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.7, the expected figure is 82.1 years, and Acton Vale’s region matches it closely with 82.5. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 7 of 10; their median is 81.4 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.
Pharmacies around Acton Vale: 1.5 within 3 km, the nearest 1.6 km away
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Acton Vale’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Acton Vale travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Quebec is 5.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 54% and 56%
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
On mental health the region tracks Quebec, 64% very good or excellent to 64%; 23% 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.
Acton Vale is 39th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,808 to 8,084 people, median 5.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broadview BC A | 8,008 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Queen Mary Park AB B+ | 7,958 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 3 | Shaughnessy BC A+ | 8,034 | 1.0 km | 50% |
| 37 | Taber AB C | 8,009 | 22 km | 52% |
| 38 | Cardinal ON C+ | 7,952 | 24 km | 51% |
| 39 | Acton Vale QC B+ | 7,945 | 26 km | 55% |
| 40 | Clare NS D− | 8,020 | 38 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Acton Vale
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acton Vale | 26 km | 55% | 82.5 | B+ |
| Saint-Théodore-d'Acton 6.7 km | 22 km | 55% | 82.5 | B+ |
| Roxton Falls 8.5 km | 24 km | 55% | 82.5 | B+ |
| Upton 8.9 km | 21 km | 55% | 82.5 | B+ |
| Roxton 11 km | 22 km | 55% | 82.5 | B+ |
| Wickham 14 km | 13 km | 61% | 81.6 | A− |
| Saint-Valérien-de-Milton 14 km | 17 km | 55% | 82.5 | A− |
Wickham falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 81.6 against 82.5 here. Wickham is the closest to care, 13 km to Acton Vale’s 26 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Acton Vale itself is the trip to care.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Acton Vale
How far is Acton Vale from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Acton Vale is 1.7 km from a clinic and 1.6 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Acton Vale?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
What is the life expectancy in Acton Vale?
For the health region that includes Acton Vale, women can expect 84.2 years and men 80.8 (2022/2024).
How is Acton Vale’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Acton Vale’s own distance to care, against 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).