Inequalities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy
About 2 mins
Key points
- On average in England, Scotland and Wales, the most deprived areas have lower life expectancy than the least deprived areas.
- More deprived areas are more likely to have lower healthy life expectancy – there is an average gap of 19 years in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas.
- In Great Britain, Scotland has the largest gaps in both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas. It is followed by England and then Wales.
The most deprived areas have the lowest life expectancy and healthy life expectancy
People’s life expectancy and healthy life expectancy varies between different geographical areas within a country. This captures socio-economic inequalities, as differences between places tend to reflect socio-economic characteristics of places (including available amenities and jobs) and populations (such as education and income levels).
This chart shows period life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at birth for England, Scotland and Wales, by deprivation and sex.
- In England, life expectancy for men living in the most deprived areas is 73.5 years, compared with 83.2 years in the least deprived areas (a difference of 9.7 years). For women, the difference is slightly smaller at 8.0 years.
- In England, women living in the most deprived areas have a healthy life expectancy of 51.9 years compared with 70.7 years in the least deprived areas – a difference of 18.8 years. For men, the difference is slightly smaller at 18.2 years.
- In Scotland, women’s life expectancy in the most deprived areas is 75.4 years, compared with 85.6 years in the least deprived areas. Women born in the least deprived areas not only have a life expectancy which is 10.2 years higher, they also have a healthy life expectancy which is 24.2 years higher.
- In Scotland, men’s life expectancy in the most deprived areas is 68.9 years, compared with 82.4 years in the least deprived. Men born in the least deprived areas not only have a life expectancy which is 13.5 years higher, they also have a healthy life expectancy which is 24.4 years higher.
- In Wales, life expectancy for men living in the most deprived areas is 74.1 years, compared with 81.6 years for men in the least deprived (a difference of 7.5 years). For women, the difference is slightly smaller, at 6.3 years.
- In Wales, women living in the most deprived areas have a healthy life expectancy of 53.3 years compared with 70.2 years for women living in the least deprived – a difference of 16.9 years. For men, the difference is slightly smaller, at 13.4 years.
- Healthy life expectancy measures the number of years an individual is expected to live in good health, based on period life expectancy and a measure of self-rated health. Period life expectancy is calculated using age-specific mortality rates of a given area and point in time and assuming these will stay the same throughout a person’s life.
- Deprivation is captured using the respective Indices of Multiple Deprivation for each nation. The indices rank small areas in each corresponding nation from most deprived to least deprived. In England and Scotland, areas are divided into 10 equal groups (deciles). Decile 1 represents the most deprived 10% of local areas, while decile 10 represents the least deprived 10%. In Wales, areas are divided into 5 equal groups (quintiles). Decile 1 represents the most deprived 20% of local areas, while decile 5 represents the least deprived 20%.
- Healthy life expectancy data for Northern Ireland are excluded from this chart as they are not available by deprivation decile, due to sampling size and methodological differences in the survey method compared with other UK regions.
Source: Health Foundation analysis of Office for National Statistics, Health state life expectancies by national deprivation deciles, England, 2018 to 2020; Health state life expectancies by national deprivation quintiles, Wales, 2018 to 2020; National Records of Scotland, Life Expectancy in Scotland, 2018–2020
