Photo: FHd · CC BY-SA 4.0Age for age, more people die in Bessan than in 71% of French communes of 1,000+
Over ten years, 2016 to 2025, Bessan recorded 629 deaths among its residents; France’s rates for people of the same ages and sex predict 592: 6% more. Bessan grades C for health: #78 of 96 in Hérault, once care homes are allowed for.
What stands out about health in Bessan
More deaths at each age than most towns
Allowing for its age, sex and care homes, Bessan had 9% more deaths over ten years than the median compared commune. That is what the Health Grade measures. Health Grade ↓
Many nurses within reach
DREES counts 302 full-time equivalents per 100,000 residents for Bessan, against 138 for the median compared commune. Doctors and nurses ↓
Against compared French towns (those with an overall grade). Only the death ratio is graded; care access and the area’s figures are shown for context.
Bessan grades C for health
One measure: deaths at each age over ten years, after care homes, ranked against 10,053 French communes of 1,000+.
Deaths per 100 expected · 2016–2025
Bessan has one care home for older people with 56 places: 15.8 for every 100 residents aged 80 or over (median compared commune: 19). People who move into a care home are counted, when they die, as residents of the care home’s commune, and they are frailer than others of their age, so a town with many places looks less healthy than it is. We take that out with one national factor; it lowers Bessan’s figure from 106 to 96. Most towns have more places per older resident, so most come down further. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
A fairly firm grade. Built on 629 deaths over ten years. Deaths vary by chance, more so in a small town; redrawing them 1,000 times puts Bessan between the 20th and 45th percentile nine times in ten: C− to C+.
How the grade works
For each year from 2016 to 2025 we take the town’s residents by age and sex, apply France’s death rate for each, and add up the deaths that would give. The town’s actual deaths divided by that total is its death ratio: 100 means deaths at France’s rates. We then take out the care-home effect and rank the result against every French commune of 1,000 residents or more; lower is better. One measure, so the rank is the grade. Care access, heart and stroke figures and life expectancy on this page are not graded.
GPs within reach of Bessan offer 4.1 consultations a year per resident
Access to five professions (DREES APL 2024), and who practices in the town (BPE 2025).
Within reach, against the median commune · median commune in France = 100
| In Bessan | Number | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| GPs | 2 | 3.4 |
| Pharmacies | 2 | 3.4 |
| Dentists | 4 | 6.9 |
| Nurses | 14 | 24 |
| Physiotherapists | 7 | 12 |
| Midwives | 0 | 0 |
| Health centers | 0 | 0 |
APL (accessibilité potentielle localisée) is the health ministry’s measure of how much care is within reach: the professionals in the commune and nearby, weighted by distance and by how much each works, against the residents’ needs by age. It counts where professionals practice, not whether they take new patients. Under 2.5 GP consultations a year is the ministry’s line for an under-served commune; the median compared commune has 3.5.
GPs: consultations a year per resident, standardized for age. Others: full-time equivalents per 100,000 residents. Not graded.
Deaths against expected, year by year
Each year’s deaths among Bessan’s residents per 100 expected at France’s death rates that year.
No clear trend: the two five-year averages are within a few points. The expected count already follows France’s own bad years (Covid in 2020–22), so a bump here means the town did worse than France that year. A single year moves by chance; the grade uses all ten. These figures are before the care-home adjustment.
Source: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025; INSEE censuses 2012, 2017, 2023; Eurostat death rates by age and sex.
About what Bessan’s income would suggest
Each dot is a compared French town; the line is the trend.
Richer towns have fewer deaths at each age: the line follows compared French towns (correlation −0.57). At Bessan’s median income of €23,200, the line gives about 94 deaths per 100 expected; Bessan has 96. Income doesn’t change the grade: this only shows whether the town does better or worse than its circumstances suggest.
Source: INSEE deaths 2016–2025 and Filosofi 2023; the line and the care-home step are TownRatings calculations.
Getting care in Bessan
Distances are in a straight line from the town center to the nearest site in INSEE’s amenity directory (BPE 2025).
Road time: DREES, access to emergency care at 31 December 2019, the latest published; a site opened or closed since is not in it. Not graded.
The intercommunality and the département
France publishes these for the intercommunality (EPCI) and the département, not the town: Bessan shares them with its neighbors. Shown for context, not graded.
Intercommunality (EPCI): Communauté d'agglomération Hérault-Méditerranée
Deaths a year per 100,000 · 2020–2022
All the figures
| Deaths per 100,000 | Hospital stays per 100,000 | Adults treated, % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coronary heart disease | 59 61 | 540 459 | 5.7 5.4 |
| Stroke | 66 59 | 244 223 | 2.2 1.9 |
| Heart failure | 58 50 | 363 351 | 2.4 2.5 |
Small figures: the median intercommunality. Age-standardized. Santé publique France, Odissé: deaths 2020–2022, hospital stays 2021–2023, adults treated 2022.
Life expectancy in Hérault
At 60, women in Hérault can expect 28.4 more years and men 24.3. INSEE publishes life expectancy for départements, not towns.
Life expectancy: INSEE, 2025, provisional.
Bessan’s health against the 40 graded communes nearest its size: 26th of 41
French communes of 5,802 to 5,875 residents with a Health Grade, ranked by it.
| # | Town | People | Deaths per 100 expected* | Emergency | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cessy Ain | 5,832 | 63 | 17 km | A+ |
| 2 | Buc Yvelines | 5,816 | 65 | 2.3 km | A+ |
| 3 | Ventabren Bouches-du-Rhône | 5,839 | 67 | 12 km | A |
| … | |||||
| 23 | Seloncourt Doubs | 5,854 | 93 | 13 km | C+ |
| 24 | Mouroux Seine-et-Marne | 5,810 | 93 | 3.8 km | C+ |
| 25 | Dol-de-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine | 5,829 | 93 | 21 km | C+ |
| 26 | Bessan Hérault | 5,838 | 96 | 8.6 km | C |
| 27 | Grand-Charmont Doubs | 5,873 | 97 | 6.5 km | C |
| 28 | Roye Somme | 5,833 | 98 | 16 km | C− |
| 29 | Briec Finistère | 5,816 | 99 | 14 km | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Douvrin Pas-de-Calais | 5,867 | 122 | 8 km | D− |
| 41 | Annezin Pas-de-Calais | 5,825 | 124 | 1 km | D− |
* 2016–2025, after the care-home adjustment (median compared town: 88).
Health in Bessan’s neighbors
Towns of 2,500+ within 18 miles, colored by Health Grade. Tap one to open its health page.
| Town | Deaths per 100 expected* | Emergency | Health |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bessan | 96 | 8.6 km | C |
| Saint-Thibéry 3,132 · 3.8 km | 85 | 6.7 km | B |
| Florensac 5,254 · 4.6 km | 83 | 8.7 km | B |
| Montblanc 2,932 · 5.8 km | 102 | 8.2 km | C− |
| Vias 5,952 · 5.9 km | 104 | 5.4 km | C− |
| Agde 29,939 · 8.5 km | 101 | 0.2 km | C− |
| Marseillan 8,414 · 8.9 km | 96 | 6.4 km | C |
* 2016–2025, after the care-home adjustment.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deaths at each age. A town of retired people has more deaths than a town of students, whatever its health. So we compare each town’s deaths with the number France’s death rates for each age and sex would give its residents. 100 means deaths at France’s rates; 110 means 10% more.
- Care homes. The care-home step is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic: one factor for the whole country, fitted on how death ratios rise with care-home places per resident aged 80+. It makes the comparison fairer, but it is a model, and a town’s own care homes may differ from the average.
- How sure. Small towns have few deaths, so chance moves their ratio. The range under the grade shows where the town would rank nine times in ten if deaths were drawn again. When it spans more than 40 points, the grade is marked less sure (≈).
- Where people die. Deaths count where the person lived, not where they died, so a hospital town isn’t penalized for its hospital.
- Not graded. Distances, APL, the intercommunality’s heart and stroke figures and the département’s life expectancy are shown for context; they don’t change the grade.
- What France doesn’t publish. Unlike the UK, France publishes no life expectancy by town or neighborhood, no waiting times by hospital, no patient survey by GP practice and no census question on health.
Questions about health in Bessan
How is Bessan’s Health Grade worked out?
Bessan gets C: healthier than 29% of French communes of 1,000+ (#78 of 96 in Hérault), on deaths at each age from 2016 to 2025 after allowing for care homes. 629 residents died, against 592 expected at France’s rates.
Why adjust for care homes?
Care-home residents are counted in the care home’s commune and are frailer than others their age, so towns with many places would look less healthy than they are. The adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
Where is the nearest emergency department to Bessan?
At Hôpital Saint Loup Hôpitaux Bassin Thau Agde, 8.6 km away in a straight line. The nearest maternity unit is at Centre hospitalier de Béziers, 14 km away. In an emergency, call 15 (SAMU) or 112.
Is it easy to find a GP in Bessan?
Bessan has 2 GPs and 2 pharmacies. GPs within reach offer 4.1 consultations a year per resident (median compared commune 3.5); under 2.5 counts as under-served. Whether a doctor takes new patients isn’t published.
What is life expectancy in Bessan?
INSEE doesn’t publish it by town. In Hérault, it is 86.3 years for women and 80.6 for men (2025, provisional); France 85.9 and 80.3.
Sources: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 · INSEE, population censuses 2012, 2017, 2023 · Eurostat, deaths and population by age and sex (© European Union) · INSEE, permanent amenity directory (BPE) 2025 · DREES, APL 2024 and access to emergency care 2019 · Santé publique France, Odissé · INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · TownRatings grades and the care-home adjustment: our own modeling, ranking French towns against each other only, updated November 4, 2026. Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab) unless stated.
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.