Read: Fall in UK life expectancy rates highlights impact of inequality
In a year of sobering economic news, last week saw a particularly bleak statistic. A new study[1] revealed that life expectancy rates in the United Kingdom over the last seven decades are worse than any other country in the G7, apart from those in the United States. France, Japan, Germany and Italy all now have better life expectancy rates.
Academics from the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine examined global life expectancy ratings between 1952 and 2021. When the late Queen came to the throne 70 years ago in 1952, the UK had one of the longest life expectancies in the world, ranked seventh globally behind countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. By 2021 it had fallen to 36th place out of 200.
The average life expectancy in the UK has risen since the start of the study - from 68.6 years in 1950 to 80.4 in 2020, compared to 68.0 and 77.4 respectively in the US. But these improvements have failed to keep pace with other countries such as Norway where people can now expect to live until 83.2, or Sweden where it is 82.4. The report highlights that income inequalities rose significantly in the UK during and after the 1980s and that was accompanied by an increase in the variation in life expectancy between different social groups, falling particularly for poorer groups. The OECD has reported that the UK is now the second most economically unequal country in Europe after Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, recent analysis[2] by the campaign group Health Equals has highlighted the widening gap in life expectancy between people born in wealthy and disadvantaged areas of the country, with a child born in Hampstead in north London expected to live to 88 while one born in Glasgow can expect to live to 76. The research used ONS figures to determine the life expectancy for babies born this year in every parliamentary constituency. It showed huge regional disparities, with 15 of the 20 constituencies with the highest life expectancies in London and the southeast while 17 of the 20 with the lowest are in Scotland. The gap between richest and poorest areas has widened by more than two years over the past 20 years.
The authors of the research believe that where babies are born and grow up is an even greater factor in their future health than individual behaviours and genetics. Certainly it has become much clearer that the determinants of people’s health can be found in the quality of their homes, in the green spaces and clean air around them, in access to education, the availability of good jobs, the physical activities they have access to and the social connections they can forge. It’s also become clearer that there is a widening gap between those who can access these things easily, and those who can’t. That leads to health inequality with poorer health during people’s lives and a reduction in life expectancy.
Beyond the headline global and national statistics there is a very real lived experience of inequality leading to missed opportunity. This can no longer be seen in isolation as a health issue and as a country we will need to address it holistically if we are to reverse the decline. As anchor institutions in the areas they serve, purpose-led NHS Trusts and other health organisations can play a crucial role in tackling health inequality, with an understanding of the particular challenges that their communities are facing. Their involvement in a range of place-based partnerships that offer expertise and support can make a real difference. More people in work, higher productivity, less time spent in poor health and better mental health – all wins for the individual - and the places in which they live which will reap the rewards of social and economic development.
