Photo: R. L'Heureux · CC BY-SA 4.0Val-Alain’s health region reports 59% in very good or excellent health, ahead of the typical Canadian town’s 52%
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 82.8, women 84.4 and men 81.3 (2022/2024). What sets Val-Alain apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 23 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Val-Alain a grade of B+.
What stands out about health in Val-Alain
Far from a hospital
Residents of Val-Alain live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (23 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Val-Alain at 4.5 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Longer lives in the region
Born around Val-Alain, a child can expect 1.3 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.0 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
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.
Val-Alain 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.
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 Val-Alain, a hospital is 23 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Val-Alain, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Val-Alain travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Quebec is 5.3 km from a hospital, 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
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
Ranked 5th 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
This is the one part of the block measured for Val-Alain itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
The region lives 0.8 years longer than its deprivation predicts
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Val-Alain’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
Measured against 102 regions, more deprivation means shorter lives, and steadily so (correlation −0.83). Val-Alain’s region, at 2.7, outlives the trend’s 82.0 years with 82.8. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, shorter lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 81.4 years. Households here earn around $75,000, less than in most regions, but the region still outlives most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (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.
21% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.2% diabetes
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 31%, self-reported obesity is near Quebec’s 29%. At 26%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 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.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Quebec (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 (69% against 64%), while 18% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Health in the places around Val-Alain
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val-Alain | 23 km | 59% | 82.8 | B+ |
| Saint-Janvier-de-Joly 11 km | 28 km | 59% | 82.8 | B+ |
| Lyster 12 km | 35 km | 61% | 81.6 | B |
| Laurierville 15 km | 34 km | 61% | 81.6 | B |
| Saint-Flavien 18 km | 33 km | 59% | 82.8 | B |
| Laurier-Station 18 km | 32 km | 59% | 82.8 | B |
Lyster falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 81.6 against 82.8 here. Lyster is the furthest from care, 35 km to Val-Alain’s 23 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Val-Alain alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Val-Alain
How far is Val-Alain from a hospital?
Residents of Val-Alain have a clinic 13 km away on average and a pharmacy 13 km away, in straight lines.
How healthy is Val-Alain?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
What is the life expectancy in Val-Alain?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Val-Alain’s health region only: 84.4 years for women and 81.3 for men (2022/2024).
How is Val-Alain’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Val-Alain’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).