Health in Biggar · CCHS 2023/2024, Statistics Canada
Expect 79.9 years of life in the region around Biggar, 1.6 under the typical Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 54%, ahead of the 49% for Saskatchewan. For Biggar itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 0.8 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Biggar a grade of B+.
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 78 km from the average home in Biggar, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Health Grade
Biggar 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.
Very good or excellent health (54%)Better than 62% of Canadian towns
Chronic conditions (17%)Better than 55% of Canadian towns
Smokers (13%)Better than 55% of Canadian towns
Life expectancy (79.9)Better than 39% of Canadian towns
Distance to a hospital (0.8 km)Better than 96% of Canadian towns
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.
Getting care
Getting to hospital from Biggar: 0.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Biggar, weighted by who lives there.
Hospital
0.8 km
residents’ average distance
the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km
Clinic
60 km
community health centre or clinic, residents’ average
Pharmacy
78 km
residents’ average distance
0.0 within 3 km of a typical home
More than 30 km from a hospital
0%
share of residents
Emergency
911
police, fire, ambulance; 811 for health advice in most provinces
From Biggar that is nearer than the 2.2 km of the typical town in Saskatchewan, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Biggar’s region shows close to the trend.
Situational vulnerability: residents’ average quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprivedLife expectancy at birth (years)
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Biggar’s region is a typical case: 79.9 years at a score of 3.1, where the trend says 80.5. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 7 of 10; their median is 80.9 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.
Conditions and habits
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (8.2%)
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
The wider area
How the 7 health regions in Saskatchewan compare on life expectancy
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Saskatchewan, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
79.9
years at birth, 2022/2024
20.1
more years expected at 65
3rd
longest of 7 regions in Saskatchewan
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Saskatoon81.4
Regina80.2
South West79.9
South East78.6
North Central East77.0
North Central West76.6
Far North70.0
Among the 7 regions in Saskatchewan, from 70.0 to 81.4 years, this one is 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Residential instability3.7
Economic dependency4.1
Ethno-cultural composition2.2
Situational vulnerability3.5
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Biggar’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Health survey
More people rate their health highly here than in Saskatchewan: 53% to 50%
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
Health very good or excellent
53%
Health fair or poor
14%
Mental health very good or excellent
52%
Mental health fair or poor
13%
Most days quite a bit stressful
20%
Strong sense of belonging
77%
Satisfied with life
87%
Saskatchewan
Mental health is no outlier: 52% say very good or excellent (Saskatchewan: 50%) and 20% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
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 Biggar’s own.
•
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. 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.
•
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.
•
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.
•
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 Biggar
How is Biggar’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 Biggar’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Biggar?
Women in Biggar’s region live to 82.5 on average and men to 77.5, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Biggar?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
How far is Biggar from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Biggar is 60 km from a clinic and 78 km from a pharmacy.
Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0