Trends in life expectancy in the most and least deprived areas
About 2 mins
Key points
- Between 2001–03 and 2021–23, the gap in period life expectancy at birth between the most and least deprived areas in England grew by 0.8 years for men and 1.1 years for women.
- In the decade leading up to the pandemic, period life expectancy at birth stalled across England but stalled to a greater degree in deprived areas.
- During the pandemic, deprived areas suffered the largest falls in period life expectancy at birth.
Life expectancy grew less in deprived areas before the pandemic, and fell by the most during the pandemic
People’s life expectancy – a summary measure of years of life based on mortality in a given year – varies across 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 how period life expectancy at birth has changed over time in the most and least deprived areas of England between 2001–03 and 2021–23.
- Between 2001–03 and 2021–23, the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas in England grew for both men and women. For men, the gap grew from 4.5 years in 2001–03 to 5.3 years in 2021–23. For women, it grew from 3.4 to 4.5 years.
- Between 2001–03 and 2011–13 life expectancy was growing both in the least and most deprived areas, and there was little change in the gap between the two. For men, the gap remained at 4.5 years and for women it remained at 3.4 years.
- In the decade leading up to the pandemic, improvements in life expectancy stalled both in the least and most deprived areas. However, while women’s life expectancy in the least deprived areas still increased by 0.6 between 2011–13 and 2017–19, the increase in the most deprived areas was just one sixth of that, at 0.1 years. Similarly, men’s life expectancy in the least deprived areas grew by 0.6 years, but just 0.3 years in the most deprived areas.
- During the pandemic, life expectancy decreased both in the least and most deprived areas. However, the most deprived areas suffered larger falls. While women’s life expectancy fell by 0.3 years in the least deprived areas between 2017–19 and 2020–22, the fall was three times greater in the most deprived areas, at 0.9 years. Similarly, men’s life expectancy fell by 0.4 years in the least deprived areas but by over 1.2 years in the most deprived areas.
It will be important to monitor life expectancy in most and least deprived areas over the next few years, to understand whether the increased gap in life expectancy observed during the pandemic will carry on in the longer term.
- Life expectancy refers to period life expectancy at birth – 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.
- Life expectancy estimates are at the local authority level.
- Deprivation is captured using the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation. This ranks small areas – Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) – from most deprived to least deprived. Each local authority is made up of multiple LSOAs. The local authority deprivation rank is calculated as the average rank of the relevant LSOAs in each local authority. The local authorities are then divided into 10 equal groups (deciles). Decile 1 represents the most deprived 10% of local authorities, while decile 10 represents the least deprived 10%.
Source: Health Foundation analysis of Office for National Statistics, Life expectancy for local areas, England, Northern Ireland and Wales, 2001–2023; English Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), England, 2019
