Photo: Minoumi · CC BY 3.0Few places match Matane for health: it beats 89% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 60% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Quebec’s 57%. What sets Matane apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 2.3 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Matane grades A for health, #246 of 503 in Quebec and #689 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Matane
Upbeat about their health
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 8.5 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 58%. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Matane 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: #246 of 503 in Quebec and #689 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 58% and 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
On mental health the region is ahead of Quebec, 72% very good or excellent to 64%; 17% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.5 years
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Matane’s dot is marked, above the line.
Use the deprivation index alone and Matane’s region, at 3.2, should live about 80.2 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 81.7. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (8 of 10, median 80.9 years). A household income of about $63,000, modest for a region, comes with longer lives than in most regions; across regions the two barely move together (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.
High blood pressure for 24% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.4%
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.
The nearest hospital is 2.3 km from the average home in Matane
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Matane’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 5.3 km for the typical town in Quebec and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Matane is on the near side.
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.
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 10th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Matane’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.
Matane is 13th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 13,913 to 14,467 people, median 3.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vieux-Limoilou QC A+ | 14,347 | 0.6 km | 62% |
| 2 | Sillery QC A+ | 13,950 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 3 | Sandwich ON B+ | 14,110 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 11 | Manor Park NS B+ | 14,148 | 1.8 km | 51% |
| 12 | Oakridge BC A+ | 14,071 | 2.0 km | 50% |
| 13 | Matane QC A | 14,180 | 2.3 km | 60% |
| 14 | Ridgehill / Armbro Heights ON A− | 14,321 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 15 | Harbour Landing SK B | 14,402 | 2.8 km | 49% |
| 40 | Warman SK B | 14,245 | 18 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Matane
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matane | 2.3 km | 60% | 81.7 | A |
| Sainte-Félicité 14 km | 15 km | 60% | 81.7 | B+ |
| Saint-Ulric 14 km | 14 km | 60% | 81.7 | A− |
The neighbours all sit in Matane’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Residents of Sainte-Félicité live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 2.3 km in Matane.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- 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 Matane’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Matane
How healthy is Matane?
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.
How far is Matane from a hospital?
For everyday care, Matane’s residents are 2.1 km from a pharmacy and 1.9 km from a clinic on average.
What is the life expectancy in Matane?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.1 for women, 80.3 for men around Matane (2022/2024).
How is Matane’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Matane has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against 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).