Photo: Fairchild Aviation Limited (d'après l'inscription dans le coin inférieur droit de la photo) · Public domainFew places match Shawinigan for health: it beats 85% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 61% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Quebec’s 57%. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Shawinigan live 4.5 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Health gives Shawinigan a grade of A, #304 of 503 in Quebec and #913 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Shawinigan
More people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 9.5 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 59% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Living past what deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.2 on the deprivation index typically live 80.0 years; Shawinigan’s region, at 81.6, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Long-term conditions run low
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 21% of adults, diabetes for 8.2%. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Shawinigan 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: #304 of 503 in Quebec and #913 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.
More people rate their health highly here than in Quebec: 59% 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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Quebec (68% against 64%), while 20% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
1.6 more years of life than regions as deprived
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Shawinigan’s region is above the line.
The trend over 102 regions (correlation −0.83) is clear, and Shawinigan’s region sits above it: 81.6 years where a score of 3.2 predicts 80.0. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 7 of them below it, a median of 80.5. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $62,000, 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.
High blood pressure for 21% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.2%
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
At 34%, self-reported obesity is above Quebec’s 29%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 22%).
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.
From Shawinigan, a hospital is 4.5 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Shawinigan’s own, not the region’s.
Nothing unusual for Shawinigan here: the typical town in Quebec is 5.3 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 18 regions in Quebec
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 11th.
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 Shawinigan’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Shawinigan is 22nd nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 43,877 to 60,874 people, median 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sault-Saint-Louis QC A | 47,270 | 1.3 km | 54% |
| 2 | Saint-Eustache QC A+ | 47,562 | 1.4 km | 60% |
| 3 | Cornwall ON B− | 54,346 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 20 | Roseborough ON A− | 54,539 | 4.0 km | 49% |
| 21 | Rimouski QC A | 51,756 | 4.1 km | 60% |
| 22 | Shawinigan QC A | 51,739 | 4.5 km | 61% |
| 23 | Dollard-Des Ormeaux QC A | 50,246 | 4.5 km | 54% |
| 24 | Fabreville QC A | 48,457 | 4.5 km | 53% |
| 40 | Lakeshore ON B− | 45,954 | 20 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Shawinigan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawinigan | 4.5 km | 61% | 81.6 | A |
| Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel 11 km | 7.8 km | 61% | 81.6 | A− |
| Saint-Boniface 11 km | 6.7 km | 61% | 81.6 | A− |
| Hérouxville 12 km | 17 km | 61% | 81.6 | B+ |
| Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc 13 km | 8.1 km | 61% | 81.6 | A− |
| Saint-Étienne-des-Grès 16 km | 11 km | 61% | 81.6 | A− |
| Saint-Narcisse 19 km | 20 km | 61% | 81.6 | B+ |
Around Shawinigan the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Saint-Narcisse live further from a hospital, at 20 km against 4.5 km in Shawinigan.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Shawinigan’s own.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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 Shawinigan
How healthy is Shawinigan?
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.
How is Shawinigan’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Shawinigan’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Shawinigan from a hospital?
For everyday care, Shawinigan’s residents are 1.3 km from a pharmacy and 2.1 km from a clinic on average.
What is the life expectancy in Shawinigan?
Women in Shawinigan’s region live to 83.3 on average and men to 79.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
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).