Analysis by the Institute for Public
Policy Research (IPPR) of new healthy life
expectancy (HLE) statistics published today finds
that:
-
The number of years people can
expect to live in good health continues to fall –
from 61.9 for women and 61.5 for men in 2021 to 2023
to 61.3 for women and 60.9 for men in 2022 to 2024
–and deep and persistent
inequalities remain.
-
There is significant variation across England – Kingston
upon Hull, Blackpool and Hartlepool have some of the
lowest rates of HLE, with Windsor and
Maidenhead, Richmond upon
Thames and Wokingham having the
highest.
-
Areas with the lowest healthy life
expectancy are overwhelmingly concentrated in the north of
England and in the more deprived parts of
the country, underlining how strongly health outcomes are
shaped by economic conditions.
-
Overall, we estimate
that boys born in the most deprived fifth of local
authorities can expect to live 6.8 fewer years in
good health than those in the least deprived fifth, rising
to 7.4 years
for girls.
Comparison of
top five and bottom five local
authorities for healthy life expectancy and 2025
Index of multiple
deprivation (IMD)
|
Top 5 Upper Tier Local
Authorities with the highest healthy life
expectancy
|
|
Females
|
Males
|
|
Area
|
IMD
Quintile
|
HLE
Score
|
Area
|
IMD
Quintile
|
HLE
Score
|
|
Richmond upon
Thames
|
1
|
70.3
|
Richmond upon
Thames
|
1
|
69.3
|
|
Wokingham
|
1
|
69.4
|
Sutton
|
1
|
68.3
|
|
Windsor and
Maidenhead
|
1
|
68.9
|
Wokingham
|
1
|
68
|
|
Sutton
|
1
|
68.7
|
Bromley
|
1
|
67.5
|
|
Bromley
|
1
|
67.7
|
Windsor and
Maidenhead
|
1
|
67.3
|
|
Bottom 5 Upper Tier
Local Authorities with the lowest healthy life
expectancy
|
|
Females
|
Males
|
|
Area
|
IMD
Quintile
|
HLE
Score
|
Area
|
IMD
Quintile
|
HLE
Score
|
|
Hartlepool
|
5
|
51.2
|
Blackpool
|
5
|
50.9
|
|
Sandwell
|
5
|
51.3
|
Hartlepool
|
5
|
52.1
|
|
Blackpool
|
5
|
51.8
|
Sandwell
|
5
|
52.7
|
|
Kingston upon Hull, City
of
|
5
|
53.3
|
Kingston upon Hull, City
of
|
5
|
53.1
|
|
Stoke-on-Trent
|
5
|
53.5
|
Rochdale
|
5
|
53.8
|
Responding to the
statistics, Dr Jamie
O'Halloran, senior research fellow at IPPR,
said:
"Today's figures show that where
you live determines how many years you spend in good
health - and that gap isn't closing. Reforming the
NHS and bringing care closer to communities can help reduce
health inequalities, but most of what shapes our physical and
mental health lies outside the health system. Without tackling
those root causes, we won't see the gains we
need."
NOTES TO
EDITORS
-
1. We use data from the recent
release of Healthy Life Expectancy Statistics from ONS
(link here).
-
2. We use population estimates by
local area from here and assign quintiles of local
authorities by their overall IMD 2025 rank
found here.
-
3. Due to boundary changes,
Sheffield and Barnsley are excluded from calculations by level
of deprivation.
