17% of adults smoke in the health region around Low, against 12% for the typical Canadian town
Self-rated health is ordinary for Quebec: 55% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 57%. Measured from where Low’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 20 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Low grades B− for health.
Residents of Low live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (19 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Pharmacies far off
Picking up a prescription in Low takes a trip of 20 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.5 out of 5, Low sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
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 8.6%. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Low 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 (20 km)Better than 25% 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.
Getting care
From Low, a hospital is 20 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Low’s own, not the region’s.
Hospital
20 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
5.2 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
20 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 Low 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (18%) and diabetes (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
Self-reported obesity, 34%, tops Quebec (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
Life expectancy across the 18 health 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
Of the 18 health regions in Quebec, 12th place goes to this one, between a low of 65.2 and a high of 84.1.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.5
Economic dependency3.9
Ethno-cultural composition1.0
Situational vulnerability4.5
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Low’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
For its deprivation
On the trend for regions as deprived, just over it
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Low’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Use the deprivation index alone and Low’s region, at 3.1, should live about 80.5 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 80.7, near enough. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 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.
Health survey
Self-rated health much as in Quebec: 55% to 56%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Health very good or excellent
55%
Health fair or poor
14%
Mental health very good or excellent
59%
Mental health fair or poor
11%
Most days quite a bit stressful
21%
Strong sense of belonging
50%
Satisfied with life
88%
Quebec
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 59% rate it very good or excellent, against 64% in Quebec, and 21% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Neighbours
Health in the places around Low
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
The neighbours all sit in Low’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Residents of La Pêche live nearer a hospital, at 7.1 km against 20 km in Low.
How to read these numbers
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 Low itself is the trip to care.
•
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.
•
Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
•
What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
•
Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
•
Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
Questions about health in Low
How far is Low from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Low is 5.2 km from a clinic and 20 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Low?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 15% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Low?
For the health region that includes Low, women can expect 82.2 years and men 79.1 (2022/2024).
How is Low’s 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 Low’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0