Photo: Edwin Lester Brittain · CC BY-SA 4.0More smokers around Pontiac: 17% of adults, where the typical Canadian town has 12%
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 55%; Quebec as a whole is at 57%. What sets Pontiac apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 12 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Pontiac is B, #486 of 503 in Quebec and #1,918 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Pontiac
A long way to hospital
Residents of Pontiac live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (11 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Long-term conditions run low
High blood pressure (18%) and diabetes (8.6%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Pontiac 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: #486 of 503 in Quebec and #1,918 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.
From Pontiac, a hospital is 12 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Pontiac’s own, not the region’s.
Pontiac is further out than the provincial norm of 5.3 km in Quebec, and than 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.
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.6%
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
At 34%, self-reported obesity is above Quebec’s 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.
On the trend for regions as deprived, just over it
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Pontiac’s region comes out on the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.1, the expected figure is 80.5 years, and Pontiac’s region matches it closely with 80.7. The 10 regions closest to it on the index split evenly around it, 5 above and 5 below; their median is 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.
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
This region is 12th longest-lived of 18 in Quebec, on a scale from 65.2 to 84.1 years.
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 Pontiac’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
55% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Quebec (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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Quebec (59% against 64%), while 21% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Pontiac comes 33rd of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 6,402 to 6,577 people, median 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beechborough-Greenbrook ON A | 6,419 | 0.6 km | 50% |
| 2 | Petrolia ON B− | 6,422 | 0.7 km | 49% |
| 3 | Humboldt SK C− | 6,551 | 0.7 km | 49% |
| 31 | Pictou County, Subdivision B NS D | 6,482 | 9.6 km | 42% |
| 32 | Glencoe ON B+ | 6,468 | 11 km | 52% |
| 33 | Pontiac QC B | 6,490 | 12 km | 55% |
| 34 | Beresford NB C+ | 6,543 | 12 km | 49% |
| 35 | Pictou County, Subdivision A NS D | 6,575 | 13 km | 42% |
| 40 | Mont-Joli QC B+ | 6,492 | 29 km | 60% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Pontiac
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontiac | 12 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Dunrobin 7.4 km | 5.1 km | 56% | 83.7 | A |
| Fitzroy 12 km | 13 km | 56% | 83.7 | A |
| Chelsea 14 km | 7.6 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Des Explorateurs 14 km | 8.3 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Brookside - Briarbrook - Morgans Grant 16 km | 5.6 km | 56% | 83.7 | A |
| Carp 16 km | 7.2 km | 56% | 83.7 | A |
Not every neighbour shares the region: Dunrobin’s life expectancy is 83.7, this region’s 80.7. Dunrobin is the closest to care, 5.1 km to Pontiac’s 12 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- 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 Pontiac’s own.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Pontiac
How is Pontiac’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 Pontiac’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Pontiac from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Pontiac is 9.7 km from a clinic and 9.3 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Pontiac?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 15% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Pontiac?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Pontiac’s health region only: 82.2 years for women and 79.1 for men (2022/2024).
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).