Life Expectancy Increasing in the UK – but not in the North

Submitted by GAtherton on 22 September 2015

Figure: Age-standardised rates of years of life lost (YLLs) for England and the nine English regions relative to EU15 countries, Australia, Canada, Norway, the USA, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales for both sexes combined in 2013

An analysis of life expectancy and morbidity (illness) figures in UK and its regions, comparing areas of deprivation with those less deprived have recently been published in the Lancet. It shows that overall in the UK we are living longer, but also that we are suffering from more illness – perhaps contributing to the struggles the UK NHS is having coping with increasing numbers of people to treat!

There are marked inequalities comparing the North East, North West of England and Scotland/Wales & N Ireland and countries such as the USA (poorer health, poorer life expectancy) with the South East of England and several EU and other countries overseas (better health, better life expectancy). However there are also marked inequalities between more deprived and less deprived areas within those regions, including the South East.

Leading causes of years of lost life (YLL) is heart disease (along with COPD and respiratory infection), leading cause of lost days of work (DALY) is lower back and neck pain.

The prime risk factors are poorer diet and smoking with obesity close behind – so we could conclude that more deprived areas tend to eat poorer food and to smoke more.