Photo: Harfang · CC BY 3.0Few places match Nantes for health: it beats 95% of Canadian towns
Self-rated health is ordinary for Quebec: 57% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 57%. What sets Nantes apart within its region is distance, and at 4.7 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). Nantes grades A for health.
What stands out about health in Nantes
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.0 on the deprivation index typically live 81.0 years; Nantes’ region, at 82.9, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Less chronic illness
High blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (9.1%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives in the region
Born around Nantes, a child can expect 1.4 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.2 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs high
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 5.4 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 56%. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Nantes 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.
A region that outlives its deprivation by 1.9 years
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Nantes’ region sits above the trend line through 102 regions.
Use the deprivation index alone and Nantes’ region, at 3.0, should live about 81.0 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 82.9. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 9, with 80.4 years in the middle. Modest pay, about $67,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (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 19% 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
On weight the region is ordinary for Quebec: 29% report obesity, the province 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.
Life expectancy across the 18 health 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
Of the 18 health regions in Quebec, 3rd 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Nantes’ 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 56% 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
On mental health the region tracks Quebec, 63% very good or excellent to 64%; 20% 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.
From Nantes, a hospital is 4.7 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Nantes, weighted by who lives there.
Nantes is near the provincial norm, 5.3 km for the typical town in Quebec, with the typical Canadian town at 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.
Health in the places around Nantes
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nantes | 4.7 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Lac-Mégantic 4.5 km | 1.8 km | 57% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Frontenac 9.0 km | 7.7 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Lac-Drolet 17 km | 16 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Nantes’; read across for the hospital trip. Lac-Drolet is the furthest from care, 16 km to Nantes’ 4.7 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- 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.
- 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 Nantes’ own.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
Questions about health in Nantes
How healthy is Nantes?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 14% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Nantes?
For the health region that includes Nantes, women can expect 84.8 years and men 81.0 (2022/2024).
How is Nantes’ 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 Nantes’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Nantes from a hospital?
For everyday care, Nantes’ residents are 5.0 km from a pharmacy and 5.0 km from a clinic on average.
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).