We’re sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.’ Ironically, this is true when it comes to where you live, too. Yes, according to a recent study by Canada’s Lighthouse Dental Centre, things like lifestyle choices do affect how healthy the province you live in is.
Using key factors like stress levels, obesity rates and chronic health conditions, in addition to environmental impact, smoking prevalence, access to healthcare and cancer incidence, experts ranked the Canadian provinces and territories from most healthy to least healthy based on a total score of 100.
Curious where your province ranks? Read on to discover the healthiest provinces to live in, along with the least healthy, too.
The Healthiest Provinces
These are the top three healthy provinces (and territories) in Canada (hint: they might surprise you!)…
Yukon
OK, we know the Yukon isn’t a province but it ranks as the healthiest place to live in all of Canada. Although stress levels were reported high at 16.5 per cent, and obesity came in at over 31 per cent, chronic diseases were relatively low. A whopping 83 per cent of the population here also has a regular healthcare provider compared to the rest of the country.
Nunavut
Nunavut residents have a slightly lower stress level rate than those living in the Yukon, however smoking is more prevalent here. The overall health score for Nunavut is 84.8, which is pretty healthy in our books.
British Columbia
Coming in at number three for the healthiest place to live in Canada is British Columbia. With moderate environmental emissions per square kilometre (at around 1.17 tonnes), this West Coast province also boasts a low obesity rate of 22.9 per cent, compared to other provinces.
The Least Healthy Provinces
When it comes to the least healthy provinces, these ones ranked lowest.
Newfoundland and Labrador
You may be noticing a pattern here. While the West Coast appears to be the healthiest place to live in the country, the East Coast and Atlantic Canada are among the least healthy places to live. Newfoundland and Labrador have a high cancer rate and the highest obesity rate of all. While the ocean coast province has a low emission rate compared to other provinces, it is still one of the least healthy places to live in Canada – the third least healthy to be exact.
New Brunswick
Despite having the highest percentage of people having access to a regular healthcare provider (90 per cent), New Brunswick still has a high obesity rate and a high percentage of chronic disease. This puts the province second on the list in terms of the least healthy provinces in Canada.
Nova Scotia
Maritime province Nova Scotia ranks as the number one least healthy province to live in. It has the highest cancer rate (at 676.7 per 100,000 people), a high stress rate and the highest percentage of chronic disease with a total health score of 40 out of 100.
If you didn’t see your province and are curious about where it lands on the list, here’s how the others rank:
- Alberta
- Ontario
- Manitoba
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
- Northwest Territories
- Prince Edward Island
