Health in Bristol · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Smoking runs high around Bristol: 17% of adults, the typical Canadian town 12%
Self-rated health is ordinary for Quebec: 55% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 57%. Closer to home, a hospital is 9.1 km from the average resident of Bristol, further than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Bristol is B.
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Bristol at 4.5 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
A lighter load of illness
High blood pressure (18%) and diabetes (8.6%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Bristol 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 (55%)Better than 69% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (15%)Better than 84% of Canadian towns
Smokers (17%)Better than 21% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (80.7)Better than 51% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (9.1 km)Better than 60% 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.
Conditions and habits
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.6%
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
18%
Arthritis
17%
Diabetes
8.6%
Obese (self-reported)
34%
Mood disorder
12%
Anxiety disorder
12%
Habits · 2023/2024
Smoke daily or now and then
17%
Smoke every day
11%
Heavy drinking
24%
Flu shot in the past year
30%
Quebec
More adults report obesity than across Quebec: 34%, the province 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.
The wider area
Longest and shortest lives among the 18 regions in Quebec
Regional life expectancy in Quebec, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
80.7
years at birth, 2022/2024
19.6
more years expected at 65
12th
longest of 18 regions in Quebec
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Région de Laval84.1
Région de Montréal83.4
Région de la Capitale-Nationale82.9
Région de l'Estrie82.9
Région de la Chaudière-Appalaches82.8
Région de la Montérégie82.5
Région des Laurentides82.2
Région de Lanaudière82.0
Région du Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean81.8
Région du Bas-Saint-Laurent81.7
Région de la Mauricie et du Centre-du-Québec81.6
Région de l'Outaouais80.7
Région de la Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine79.9
Région de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue79.5
Région de la Côte-Nord79.4
Région du Nord-du-Québec78.1
Région des Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James76.8
Région du Nunavik65.2
The region comes 12th of 18 in Quebec, where life expectancy runs from 65.2 to 84.1 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability2.6
Economic dependency4.6
Ethno-cultural composition1.0
Situational vulnerability4.5
The index is context and never graded: it describes Bristol’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.
For its deprivation
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Bristol’s region is near the line.
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 Bristol belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.1 predicts: 80.7 years, the trend 80.5. The 10 regions closest to it on the index split evenly around it, 5 above and 5 below; their median is 80.7 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.
Getting care
The nearest hospital is 9.1 km from the average home in Bristol
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Bristol’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
9.1 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
9.2 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
9.5 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 Bristol 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.
Arnprior falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 81.0 against 80.7 here. Residents of Shawville live nearer a hospital, at 0.6 km against 9.1 km in Bristol.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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 Bristol alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
•
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.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
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.
•
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.
Questions about health in Bristol
How is Bristol’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Bristol’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Bristol?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 15% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Bristol from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Bristol live: 9.2 km to a clinic, 9.5 km to a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Bristol?
For the health region that includes Bristol, women can expect 82.2 years and men 79.1 (2022/2024).
Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0