Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Smoking runs high around Thurso: 17% of adults, the typical Canadian town 12%
Self-rated health is ordinary for Quebec: 55% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 57%. What sets Thurso apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 13 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Thurso is B, #488 of 503 in Quebec and #1,941 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Thurso
Far from a hospital
Distance is Thurso’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 13 km. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Thurso’s neighbourhoods average 4.6 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Less chronic illness
High blood pressure (18%) and diabetes (8.6%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Thurso 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: #488 of 503 in Quebec and #1,941 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 Thurso, a hospital is 13 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Thurso’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, Thurso is on the far 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.
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
Habits · 2023/2024
More adults report obesity than across Quebec: 34%, 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.
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
Ranked 12th of 18 in Quebec: the regions span 65.2 to 84.1 years at birth.
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 Thurso’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Barely ahead of regions as deprived
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Thurso’s lies near the line.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Thurso belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.1 predicts: 80.7 years, the trend 80.5. 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 55% 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 is behind Quebec, 59% very good or excellent to 64%; 21% 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.
Thurso is 30th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,378 to 3,498 people, median 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lynnwood AB B+ | 3,452 | 0.4 km | 51% |
| 2 | Virginia Park AB B+ | 3,431 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 3 | Havre-Saint-Pierre QC B+ | 3,389 | 1.2 km | 61% |
| 28 | Sainte-Mélanie QC B+ | 3,417 | 12 km | 56% |
| 29 | Portneuf QC A+ | 3,410 | 12 km | 62% |
| 30 | Thurso QC B | 3,439 | 13 km | 55% |
| 31 | Cumberland County, Subdivision A NS D | 3,401 | 13 km | 42% |
| 32 | Saint-Côme--Linière QC A− | 3,435 | 14 km | 59% |
| 40 | Lewisporte NL D | 3,405 | 45 km | 54% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Thurso
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thurso | 13 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Lochaber-Partie-Ouest 6.8 km | 6.7 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Rockland 7.7 km | 15 km | 49% | 81.0 | C |
| Plaisance 10 km | 9.8 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| L'Ange-Gardien 13 km | 4.3 km | 55% | 80.7 | B |
| Vallée-de-la-Lièvre 14 km | 1.7 km | 55% | 80.7 | B+ |
| Cumberland 17 km | 10 km | 56% | 83.7 | A |
Not every neighbour shares the region: Rockland’s life expectancy is 81.0, this region’s 80.7. Residents of Vallée-de-la-Lièvre live nearer a hospital, at 1.7 km against 13 km in Thurso.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Thurso itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
Questions about health in Thurso
How is Thurso’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Thurso’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Thurso from a hospital?
A clinic is 0.6 km from the average resident of Thurso and a pharmacy 0.6 km, as the crow flies.
How healthy is Thurso?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 15%.
What is the life expectancy in Thurso?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Thurso’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).