Welland, a city of 50,331 residents, is located along the Welland canal and its boundaries span an area of 81.1 km²

• Profile of Welland
• Priority Populations
• Leading Cause of Death
• Leading Cause of Hospitalization
• Prenatal and Reproductive Summary

Profile of Welland

Community profile of Welland

	Welland	Niagara region	Ontario
Population density per square kilometre	620.7	230.5	13.4
Population of 2001	48,402	410,574	11,410,046
Population of 2006	50,331	427,421	12,160,282
Population change	4.0%	4.1%	6.6%
Total private dwellings	21,543	179,903	4,972,869
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents	20,717	169,425	4,554,251
Land area (square km)	81.1	1,854.2	907,573.8
People ages 25-64 who have not completed high school	15.7%	14.0%	13.6%
Lone female parent	24.3%	21.9%	20.0%
Lone male parent	5.5%	5.4%	4.5%
Knowledge of neither English nor French	0.5%	0.6%	2.2%
Population who immigrated to Canada in the last 5 years	9.1%	10.4%	17.1%
Aboriginal identity	2.4%	1.6%	2.0%
Visible minority status	3.7%	6.3%	22.8%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2006.

Population density
Welland has a relatively high urban area compared to the rest of Niagara. There are approximately 620.7 people in 1 square kilometre compared to 230.5 in Niagara and 13.4 in Ontario. 

Population change
Between 2001 and 2006, the population of Welland grew by 4.0%. This means the population in Welland was similar to the population growth of Niagara (4.1%), yet less than the population growth of Ontario (6.6%).

Population who did not graduate from high school
15.7% of the population of Welland, between the ages of 25 and 64, have not completed their high school education; compared to 14.0% in Niagara and 13.6% in Ontario.

Lone parent families
Welland has a higher percentage of single mothers (24.3%) among the families with children at home compared to Niagara (21.9%) and Ontario (20.0%). As for families with single fathers, Welland has a similar percentage (5.5%) to Niagara (5.4%), and a higher percentage than Ontario (4.5%).

Language, immigration and Aboriginals
Almost all of Welland residents are able to speak either English or French.  Only a small percentage, less than 1%, cannot.  This pattern is also seen in Niagara, but in Ontario the proportion is higher at 2.2%
 
3.7% of people in Welland are of a Visible minority, which is less to the Visible minority population of Niagara at 6.3%, but is much lower than that of Ontario (22.8%). In term of immigration, Welland has a smaller percentage of people immigrating in the last five years (9.1%) than Niagara (10.4), but again, this percentage is much lower than that of Ontario (17.1%).

In Welland there is a greater percentage of Aboriginals (2.4%) compared to Niagara (1.6%) and Ontario (2%).  However, only aboriginals who live off reserve were surveyed by the census.

Income Profile of Welland

	Welland	Niagara region	Ontario
Low income before tax	14.4%	12.0%	14.7%
Low income after tax	10.2%	8.4%	11.1%
Low income families with children or youth less than 18 years old (before tax)	17.6%	15.0%	18.0%
Low income families with children or youth less than 18 years old (after tax)	12.4%	10.5%	13.7%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2006.

Population with Low income
Welland has a higher percentage of people considered as living within low income (before tax) (14.4%) than Niagara (12.0%) and slightly lower than Ontario (14.7%). The same goes for the ‘after tax Low income’ percentages. After taxes, the percentage of people living within the Low income bracket is as follows: 10.2% for Welland, 8.4% for Niagara, and 11.1% for Ontario.

Low income families
12.4% of Welland families who are considered low income (before tax) have a child/youth under the age of 18 living with them. After tax this decreases to 11.0%, which is slightly higher than in Niagara (10.5%) but lower than Ontario (13.7%).

Priority Populations

To examine geographical patterns of socio-economic indicators (e.g. income, low education), a priority index was developed to explore the characteristics in the Niagara region.  A priority index is those populations that are at risk and for whom public health interventions (e.g. the Health Bus program) may be reasonably considered to have a substantial impact at the population level.  

The map shows an image of Welland with areas of high versus low priority, based on six indicators included from the 2006 census:

1. Median familyi
2. Proportion of people who have not graduated with certificate, diploma or degree
3. Unemployment rate
4. Proportion of single parent families
5. Proportion of people living alone
6. Proportion of persons who are separated, divorced or widowed.

Leading Causes of Death

Leading causes of death (0-64 years)

	Males (0-64 years)				Females (0-64 years)
	Welland		Niagara region		Welland		Niagara region
1	Ischaemic heart disease	16.3%	Ischaemic heart disease	15.3%	Lung cancer	9.6%	Lung cancer	10.9%
2	Lung cancer	7.8%	Lung cancer	8.5%	Colorectal cancer	6.8%	Breast cancer	8.3%
3	Transport accidents	6.8%	Intentional self harm	5.3%	Ischaemic heart disease	5.6%	Ischaemic heart disease	7.4%
4	Intentional self harm	5.8%	Transport accidents	4.2%	Cerebrovascular disease	5.1%	Colorectal cancer	4.9%
5	Colorectal cancer	2.9%	Colorectal cancer	4.1%	Diabetes mellitus	4.5%	Cerebrovascular diseases	4.0%

Source: Causes of Death 2000-2004, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, IntelliHEALTH ONTARIO Data. Last Refreshed March 2009.

In Welland, the top 5 leading causes of death among males and females aged 0-64 are similar to those of the Niagara region with some notable differences.

Females
For females aged 0-64: lung cancer, colorectal cancer, Ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease were listed among the leading causes of death for Welland and Niagara. However, in Welland, diabetes completes the list, whereas, in Niagara, breast cancer was a leading cause of death..

Males
For males aged 0-64: the top 5 leading causes of death are identical for Welland and Niagara.

Leading causes of death (65+ years)

	Males (65+ years)				Females (65+ years)
	Welland		Niagara region		Welland		Niagara region
1	Ischaemic heart disease	29.9%	Ischaemic heart disease	26.2%	Ischaemic heart disease	32.2%	Ischaemic heart disease	26.4%
2	Lung cancer	7.2%	Lung cancer	7.7%	Cerebrovascular disease	7.6%	Cerebrovascular diseases	9.1%
3	Diabetes mellitus	7.0%	Cerebrovascular diseases	6.1%	Diabetes mellitus	6.6%	Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease	5.3%
4	Cerebrovascular diseases	4.9%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	5.4%	Lung cancer	5.1%	Lung cancer	5.2%
5	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	4.3%	Diabetes mellitus	4.7%	Breast cancer	3.6%	Diabetes mellitus	4.8%

Source: Causes of Death 2000-2004, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, IntelliHEALTH ONTARIO Data. Last Refreshed March 2009.

In Welland, the leading causes of death among males and females over the age of 65 are similar to those of the Niagara region.

Females
For females aged 65+, the only difference is that breast cancer is a leading cause of death in Welland versus dementia and alzheimer’s disease in Niagara.

Males
For males aged 65+, the top 5 leading causes of death in Welland and Niagara were the same.

Leading Causes of Hospitalization

Leading causes of hospitalization (0-64 years)

	Males (0-64 years)				Females (0-64 years)
	Welland		Niagara region		Welland		Niagara region
1	Liveborn infants according to place of birth	3.9%	Liveborn infants according to place of birth	6.2%	Complications of pregnancy (labour and delivery)	13.0%	Complications of pregnancy (labour and delivery)	21.4%
2	Diabetes mellitus	3.4%	Disorders related to Short gestation and Low birth weight	3.5%	Complications of pregnancy (Antenatal)	11.0%	Complications of pregnancy (Antenatal)	14.8%
3	Mood, affective disorders	3.3%	Acute myocardial infarction	3.0%	Liveborn infants according to place of birth	3.3%	Liveborn infants according to place of birth	4.1%
4	Complications of surgical and medical care	3.2%	Complications of surgical and medical care	2.9%	Mood, affective disorders	2.4%	Mood, affective disorders	2.1%
5	Disorders related to Short gestation and Low birth weight	2.9%	Diabetes mellitus	2.1%	Complications of surgical and medical care	2.2%	Disorders related to Short gestation and Low birth weight	2.0%

Source: Causes of Hospitalizations, 2003-2007, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, IntelliHEALTH ONTARIO. Last Refreshed March 2009.

In Welland, the top 5 leading causes for hospitalization among males and females aged 0-64 are quite similar to those of Niagara region, though with some differences.

Females
For Welland and Niagara, females aged 0-64, the only difference in causes for hospitalizations is that in Welland complications of surgical and medical care completes the list while in Niagara, disorders related to Short gestation and low birth weight is reported.

Males
For males aged 0-64, Welland lists mood, affective disorders in contrast to Niagara which lists acute myocardial infarction as one of the top 5 causes of hospitalization.

Leading causes of hospitalization (65+ years)

	Males (65+ years)				Females (65+ years)
	Welland		Niagara region		Welland		Niagara region
1	Heart failure	7.0%	Heart failure	5.3%	Heart failure	5.8%	Heart failure	5.7%
2	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis	6.3%	Acute myocardial infarction	4.9%	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis	5.1%	Fracture of femur	4.8%
3	Acute myocardial infarction	4.1%	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis	4.7%	Cerebrovascular diseases	3.9%	Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, bronchiectasis	4.3%
4	Cerebrovascular diseases	3.6%	Cerebrovascular diseases	3.5%	Acute myocardial infarction	3.7%	Acute myocardial infarction	4.2%
5	Diabetes  mellitus	3.6%	Pneumonia	3.1%	Conduction disorders, cardiac arrhythmias	3.6%	Cerebrovascular diseases	3.9%

Source: Causes of Hospitalizations, 2003-2007, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, IntelliHEALTH ONTARIO. Last Refreshed March 2009.

In Welland, the top 5 leading causes for hospitalizations among males and females aged 65+ are similar to those of the Niagara region with some differences.

Females
For females over the age of 65, the difference between Welland and Niagara is that Welland lists conduction disorders, cardiac arrhythmias as a leading cause for hospitalizations, while Niagara region lists Fracture of femur.

Males
For males over the age of 65, the only difference in causes of hospitalizations, is that Welland lists diabetes while Niagara lists Pneumonia.

Prenatal and Reproductive Summary

Prenatal class attendance and Parkyn summary

		Welland	Niagara region
Total Parkyn (N)		492	3795
Mothers who attended a Prenatal class at Public Health†		15.0%
Mothers under 20 years		6.1%	5.2%
Mothers who smoked during pregnancy		18.9%	13.0%
Preterm birth		4.5%	7.1%
Low birthweight		6.2%	4.3%
High-risk Parkyn Score		24.8	19.2%
Feeding Method	Breastmilk only	65.9%	72.6%
	Both breastmilk and formula	12.0%	8.9%

† Source: Prenatal class Data, Niagara Region, 2008. Source: ISCIS Jan-Dec, 2007. Extracted: March 2009.

Overall, 15.0% of pregnant women in Welland attended prenatal classes offered by Niagara Region Public Health last year. 

The Parkyn Postpartum Screening Tool is an instrument designed to indicate families with a new baby who may be at an increased risk of developmental challenges based on health, physical and social drawbacks. Using this tool 24.8% of newborns in Welland were considered high risk in comparison to 19.2% in Niagara region.  In 2007, there were 492 live births to mothers from Welland; representing 13.0% of the total newborns throughout Niagara.  Of these births, 6.1% were to mothers under the age of 20.

In Welland 4.5% of births were preterm and 6.2% were Low birth weight babies; compared with Niagara at 7.1% and 4.3% respectively.   When mothers were asked about their smoking habits, 18.9% self-reported smoking during pregnancy which is much higher than Niagara region (13%).

In Welland, 65.9% of mothers breastfed while in hospital; a further 12.0% both breastfed and used a bottle. The rate of breastfeeding only in Welland is lower than Niagara (72.6%). The rate for both breastmilk and formula feeding method is higher than Niagara (8.9%).