New Health and Diet Inequalities Dashboard reveals shocking disparities, with tooth decay, obesity, diabetes and shorter life expectancy afflicting deprived constituencies
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The Food Foundation has today published a new Health and Diet
Inequalities Dashboard [1], funded by the Nuffield Foundation,
revealing the extent of health and dietary disparities between
constituencies and regions across England. The dashboard
includes new estimates of the health status of people living in
different Parliamentary constituencies across England calculated by
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, drawing on
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The Food Foundation has today published a new Health and Diet Inequalities Dashboard [1], funded by the Nuffield Foundation, revealing the extent of health and dietary disparities between constituencies and regions across England. The dashboard includes new estimates of the health status of people living in different Parliamentary constituencies across England calculated by The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, drawing on government datasets [2]. The dashboard shows how the national issue of poor diet is affecting people differently at a local level and looks at a range of metrics including childhood obesity (in Reception and Year 6), childhood dental decay (in Reception and Year 6), type 2 diabetes in adults, life expectancy, child poverty, and prominence of fast-food outlets. For each metric looked at, there is a significant variation across constituencies. For example, the number of people with type 2 diabetes is 5 times higher in the worst affected constituency (Leicester East - 1 in 8 people) compared to the least (Bristol Central - 1 in 40 people) [3]. The dashboard also shows as many as 1 in 3 Year 6 children have obesity in the worst affected constituencies (Smethwick and West Bromwich), compared to 1 in 8 in the least (St Albans) [4]. Nine constituencies fall in the bottom 25% across all metrics [5]. Of these, 5 are in Yorkshire and The Humber, 3 are in the North West and 1 is in the West Midlands.
When all metrics were taken into account, 16 cabinet ministers' constituencies were ranked in the bottom 50% overall. [6]
General trends across metrics show deprived constituencies are the worst affected. There are also notable regional divides, with constituencies in the North often being more impacted. For example, nearly 1 in 3 reception aged children from the North West have dental decay, compared to 1 in 6 in the South West [7] and a child in Year 6 living in the North East of England is a third more likely to be living with obesity than a child living in the South East. The North East is the worst affected for 6 out of the 9 metrics looked at. Meanwhile, the South East performed best overall. Understanding geographical disparities in both diets and the associated health issues, is key if the Government is to meet its manifesto commitments of raising the healthiest generation of children ever, halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest, reducing child poverty and ending the need for emergency food parcels. The Food Foundation is calling on policy makers to use the dashboard to target intervention where it is needed most in the Government's upcoming Food Strategy and Child Poverty Strategy. Dr Hannah Brinsden, Head of Policy and Advocacy, The Food Foundation said, “Our new Health and Diet Inequalities Dashboard highlights the stark inequalities that exist across England, and the detrimental impact that our food system is having on our health. The Government's Food Strategy is a huge opportunity to reduce these regional inequalities and improve the healthiness of our nation. By focusing on national action to improve our food environments, alongside harnessing the power of local leadership, bringing together local businesses, community enterprises and producers, we can ensure that everyone has access to more nutritious, affordable food, no matter where they live.”
Paul McDonald, Chief Campaigns Officer at Health Equals commented, "This new dashboard reveals the shocking extent of families suffering from poorer health and shorter lives across England, largely because they do not have the money in their pockets to buy healthy and nutritious food.
“Food is an essential building block of good health that we should all have access to, no matter who we are or where we live. If the government is serious about tackling health inequalities, they need to take urgent action on food insecurity, so we can Make Health Equal across the nation."
Professor Sir Michael Marmot CH, Director, UCL Institute of Health Equity, UCL Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, said, "Too many people in Britain have food insecurity and too many people cannot access healthy food. The result is stark inequalities in health related to nutrition. A strategy to achieve greater health equity has to include access to affordable, nutritious and attractive food.”
Top and Bottom 5 constituencies for each metric
Obesity – Reception
Obesity – Year 6
Dental decay - Reception
Dental Decay – Year 6
Type 2 Diabetes aged 17+
Life expectancy at birth
Child Poverty
Proportion of food outlets that are fast food
NOTES TO EDITOR [1] See: Health and Diet Inequalities Dashboard | Food Foundation [2] Constituency level data for England was estimated from England local authority data using a model developed by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This model was used for 5 of the metrics included in the dashboard – obesity, diabetes, dental caries, fast food outlets and food insecurity. UK life expectancy data is directly from ONS, and UK child poverty data is used with permission from End Child Poverty Coalition. More details about the methods are available in the technical report, available here: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/constituency-dashboard [3] Diabetes Profile update, 2025 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/diabetes-profile-update-march-2025/diabetes-profile-statistical-commentary-march-2025 [4] National Child Measurement Programme, England, 2023/24 School Year. See: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/national-child-measurement-programme/2023-24-school-year [5] Defined as those in the bottom 25% of ranked English constituencies for each metric (lowest 25th percentile of the metric ranking).
[6] An 'overall ranking' was determined by: 1) Giving each constituency a ranking across each metric for which they had data available. Where there were duplicate values in a metric, constituencies were given the same ranking (i,e. 1, 2 , 2 ,3) 2) Translating each constituency metric rank into a percentile value, so that comparisons can be made across metrics 3) calculating the number of metric data points available for each constituency, since not all constituencies had complete data sets. 3) creating a 'metric ranking percentile average' by summing each constituencies percentile ranking across all metrics, then dividing it by the number of metric data points available for that constituency. 4) Ordering each constituency according to their 'metric percentile average' then assigning them a score of 1 to 543 based on their place in that order, with 1 being most affected
[7] Oral health survey of 5 year old children 2022 see: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oral-health-survey-of-5-year-old-children-2022#:~:text=The results of the oral,experience of obvious dentinal decay AND Oral health survey of children in year 6, 2023. See: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oral-health-survey-of-children-in-year-6-2023
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