Inequalities in neighbourhood-level life expectancy

People’s life expectancy – a summary measure of years of life based on mortality in a given year – varies in different geographical areas within a country. This captures socio-economic inequalities, as differences between places tend to reflect their characteristics (including available amenities and jobs) and populations (such as education and income levels).

This chart shows inequalities in life expectancy between neighbourhoods within local authorities, grouped by region. Each point represents a local authority and shows the gap (in years) between the neighbourhood with the highest life expectancy and the neighbourhood with the lowest. Local authorities are grouped along the vertical axis by region, and the horizontal position shows the size of the gap: points further to the right indicate larger inequalities in life expectancy within that local authority. This allows comparison between both local authorities and regions.

• Local authorities in the North East have the greatest inequalities between neighbourhoods. For men, the average gap for local authorities in the North East is 13 years. For women, it is 11.9 years.
• For women, West Devon, in the South West has the smallest difference in neighbourhood life expectancy – a gap of 1.9 years for women for men, Rutland in the East Midlands has the smallest gap of 1.9 years.
• Of the ten local authorities with the largest gap in neighbourhood life expectancies for women, seven local authorities are located in northern England. This compares with just one in the ten local authorities with the smallest gap in neighbourhood life expectancies.
• Similarly, of the ten local authorities with the largest gaps in neighbourhood life expectancies for men, eight are located in northern England, compared with just two local authorities with the smallest gaps.