Women spending more years with disabling illness: International Women’s Day

Women in the most deprived areas of England can expect to live to just 51 years old before the onset of illness or disability, compared to 67 years old for women in the least deprived areas, our analysis has shown.

And while both men and women’s health prospects are getting worse, the situation is especially dire for women. The proportion of women’s lives spent with disability has increased from 21.2% to 26.7% between 2006-08 and 2018-20 (compared to 18.6% and 21.5% for men, respectively).

The data also shows that, at 65, a woman today can expect to spend less than half (47%) of her remaining years in good health, compared to 53% for men.

This analysis, from our State of Ageing report which will be published in full later this month, is being released early to mark International Women’s Day.

“The fact that women are spending an increasing proportion of their life in poor health is deeply concerning. Most of the conditions that cause disability in our later years are not inevitable – they really can be postponed, or even prevented altogether.

“If we are all to enjoy a decent old age, we need to do more to create a society where being healthier is easier, and to narrow the huge gulf in inequalities we see between richer and poorer people in society. We need to level up ageing.

“And we know what the solutions are already – we need communities with more quality greens spaces and that encourage people to be more physically active, including walking and cycling. We need homes that are suitable and safe for us as we age, and we need to prevent older people from living in homes that exacerbate illness and disability.