Photo: Marilyne Lesage · CC BY-SA 3.0Health in Desbiens beats 93% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 66%, ahead of the 57% for Quebec. Measured from where Desbiens’ residents live, the nearest hospital is 6.0 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Desbiens a grade of A.
What stands out about health in Desbiens
No pharmacy close by
From the average home in Desbiens, a pharmacy is 22 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.0 out of 5, Desbiens sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs high
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 14.7 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 64%. Health survey ↓
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.
Desbiens grades A 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.
Self-rated health beats Quebec: 64% very good or excellent, against 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
Mental health beats Quebec as well: 72% very good or excellent to 64%, with 14% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Desbiens, a hospital is 6.0 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Desbiens, weighted by who lives there.
Against 5.3 km for the typical town in Quebec and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Desbiens sits near the middle.
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 18 regions in Quebec
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Quebec, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Quebec runs from 65.2 to 84.1; this region sits 9th of the 18.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Desbiens’ residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
The region lives 1.4 years longer than its deprivation predicts
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Desbiens’, lies over the trend.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Desbiens’ region beats it: 81.8 years against the 80.4 the trend gives a score of 3.1. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 80.6 years. Households here earn around $69,000, less than in most regions, but the region still outlives most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (correlation 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.
21% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 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 30%, self-reported obesity is near Quebec’s 29%. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 29% to 22%.
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.
Health in the places around Desbiens
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desbiens | 6.0 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Métabetchouan--Lac-à-la-Croix 6.2 km | 2.6 km | 66% | 81.8 | A+ |
| Chambord 7.5 km | 12 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Saint-Gédéon 17 km | 8.5 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
Every place around Desbiens shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Chambord live further from a hospital, at 12 km against 6.0 km in Desbiens.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Desbiens itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Desbiens
How healthy is Desbiens?
The region beats the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
How is Desbiens’ 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 Desbiens’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Desbiens from a hospital?
Residents of Desbiens have a clinic 5.6 km away on average and a pharmacy 22 km away, in straight lines.
What is the life expectancy in Desbiens?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.2 for women, 80.4 for men around Desbiens (2022/2024).
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).