Photo: Veillg1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Few places match La Malbaie for health: it beats almost every Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 62%, ahead of the 57% for Quebec. Measured from where La Malbaie’s residents live, a hospital is 4.7 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. Health gives La Malbaie a grade of A+, #31 of 503 in Quebec and #36 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in La Malbaie
Self-rated health runs high
Even once age is allowed for, 10.1 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (61% as answered). Health survey ↓
Long-term conditions run low
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 18% of adults, diabetes for 7.2%. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around La Malbaie runs 1.4 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.1 more years (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.
La Malbaie 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. Its place: #31 of 503 in Quebec and #36 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.
Self-rated health beats Quebec: 61% 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 wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 66% very good or excellent against 64% for Quebec; stress is a daily matter for 22%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
In the region, high blood pressure (18%) and diabetes (7.2%)
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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 30% of adults against 29% for Quebec.
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 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for La Malbaie’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and La Malbaie’s region shows close to the trend.
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 2.3 would be expected to reach 83.4 years, and La Malbaie’s region is close, at 82.9. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 82.9 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $75,000, less than in most regions, yet lives here are longer than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
The nearest hospital is 4.7 km from the average home in La Malbaie
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is La Malbaie’s own, not the region’s.
For distance to care La Malbaie is ordinary: 5.3 km is the typical figure in Quebec, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 1.5 km, while the average resident is 4.7 km away.
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.
Among 40 towns its size, La Malbaie is 19th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 8,183 to 8,416 people, median 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alta Vista ON A+ | 8,387 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 2 | G-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 8,224 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 3 | Valley Gardens MB B+ | 8,329 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 17 | Marlborough Park AB A+ | 8,378 | 3.3 km | 56% |
| 18 | Walden AB A | 8,190 | 4.4 km | 56% |
| 19 | La Malbaie QC A+ | 8,293 | 4.7 km | 62% |
| 20 | St. Norbert MB B+ | 8,251 | 4.8 km | 52% |
| 21 | Crestview-Tanglewood ON A | 8,302 | 5.0 km | 56% |
| 40 | Argyle NS D− | 8,216 | 23 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around La Malbaie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Malbaie | 4.7 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Clermont 7.2 km | 7.2 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Saint-Aimé-des-Lacs 13 km | 15 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
Nothing in the regional columns separates La Malbaie from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Saint-Aimé-des-Lacs live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 4.7 km in La Malbaie.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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 La Malbaie’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
Questions about health in La Malbaie
How healthy is La Malbaie?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 14%.
What is the life expectancy in La Malbaie?
For the health region that includes La Malbaie, women can expect 84.7 years and men 81.1 (2022/2024).
How far is La Malbaie from a hospital?
For everyday care, La Malbaie’s residents are 4.2 km from a pharmacy and 4.1 km from a clinic on average.
How is La Malbaie’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for La Malbaie: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with 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).