Photo: OgreBot · CC BY-SA 4.0Forestville’s health region reports 61% in very good or excellent health, ahead of the typical Canadian town’s 52%
People in the region live to 79.4 on average: 82.1 for women and 77.0 for men in 2022/2024. For Forestville itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 0.9 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Forestville is B+, #409 of 503 in Quebec and #1,239 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Forestville
A region where lives run shorter
Born around Forestville, a child can expect 2.1 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.4 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More smokers
Around Forestville, 11% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies far off
Picking up a prescription in Forestville takes a trip of 49 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 9.1%. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Forestville 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: #409 of 503 in Quebec and #1,239 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.
How the 18 health regions in Quebec compare on life expectancy
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
Ranked 15th of 18 in Quebec: the regions span 65.2 to 84.1 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Forestville’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
High blood pressure for 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.1%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 37%, tops Quebec (29%). More adults drink heavily, 25% to the province’s 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.
Getting to hospital from Forestville: 0.9 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Forestville, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Forestville are closer 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.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 1.2 years more here
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Forestville’s lies above the line.
Measured against 102 regions, more deprivation means shorter lives, and steadily so (correlation −0.83). Forestville’s region, at 3.7, outlives the trend’s 78.2 years with 79.4. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (8 of 10, median 78.2 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 59% and 56%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health beats Quebec as well: 70% very good or excellent to 64%, with 16% facing 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, Forestville is 2nd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,796 to 2,872 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 7.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westmount SK A− | 2,872 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 2 | Forestville QC B+ | 2,835 | 0.9 km | 61% |
| 3 | Minnedosa MB B− | 2,859 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 4 | Grimshaw AB C− | 2,799 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 40 | Saint-Michel-des-Saints QC B | 2,841 | 76 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Forestville itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Forestville
How healthy is Forestville?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 15%.
How is Forestville’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Forestville’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Forestville?
For the health region that includes Forestville, women can expect 82.1 years and men 77.0 (2022/2024).
How far is Forestville from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Forestville live: 1.2 km to a clinic, 49 km to a pharmacy.
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).