Startling new stats show nation’s health in decline and regional inequalities soaring

Startling new stats on healthy life expectancy released today show the nation’s health in significant decline and regional inequalities soaring. 
 
Healthy life expectancy at birth was lower in most English regions for males and in all regions for females in 2020/2022 compared with 2011/2013, according to new health state life expectancy data released this morning by the ONS. 

Healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth was 62.4 years for males and 62.7 years for females in England in 2020/2022.  
 
This means that healthy life expectancy for males is 9.3 months shorter and for females 14 months shorter, than in 2011/13.    

In England, eight of the nine regions the healthy life expectancy was lower among males in 2020/22 compared with 2011/13, with the largest decrease in the North East (20.3 months) where men now have a healthy life expectancy of 57.6 years – the lowest healthy life expectancy for males of any English region. 
 
The only region that saw an increase for males was London (6.9 months) where men now can expect to live free of serious injury and illness for 63.9 years.   
 
The highest healthy life expectancy for males in 2020/22 is in the South East (64.1 years) - meaning a seven year difference in the healthy life expectancy of males between the North East and South East.  

For females, healthy life expectancy was lower in 2020/22 than in 2011/13 in all nine regions in England, with the largest decrease in the East Midlands (31.8 months) where females now have a healthy life expectancy of 60.5 years. 

Women in the North East have the lowest healthy life expectancy of 59 years meaning that women in the South East (64.7) enjoy almost six more years of good health free of injury and serious illness.  
 
Our State of Ageing 2023/24 report calls on the UK government to reduce the huge gap in healthy life expectancy through a Bill of Health that would require building a healthier nation to be a priority across all policy areas and support the building blocks of health, like stable work and safe homes.  
 
The Centre for Ageing Better argues we need to tackle the wider determinants of health across people’s lives and ensure that everybody has the same opportunities to achieve good work, financial security, a decent home, and to develop and maintain connections to family, friends and a supportive wider community.

“It is often said that this country aspires to be the best place in the world in which to grow older. But newly released healthy life expectancy data is the latest indicator which reveals that not only we have an enormous way to go to achieve that but that we’re actually headed in the wrong direction.   
  
“There is such a shameful gulf in the experiences of growing older in this country depending on where you live. Wealth, and the uneven distribution of wealth, of course are a significant factor in this. For older people desperately struggling to make ends meet in later life, their experience and their outcomes in later life are a world away from their wealthier peers.  
  
“It is also extremely worrying that the gap between different parts of the country is growing, with healthy life expectancy falling significantly for those in the most deprived parts of our country while actually rising in some areas.  
 
“Of course the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the general health of our country and its population. But it doesn’t account for all the negative trends we are seeing here. Healthy life expectancy for women has been in significant decline since 2017.   
  
“Without drastic action, we will continue to have two ageing populations in this country living parallel and incomparable lives. We need a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing for England to give voice to the many older people who are currently marginalised and ignored, and ensure that the issues that affect them are considered in policy-making across government.   
  
“We also need an ageing society strategy that has a laser-like focus on the poorest and most vulnerable older people, is grounded in the data on different communities’ experiences of old age, and sets out a clear plan to level up the dramatic inequality in the way we experience later life.”