Health inequality in UK

Health inequality is blighting the UK

Life expectancy is going up, but so too is the gap between rich and poor

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Overall, health has indeed improved, but at much the same rate as it has for over 100 years. But analysis by The Equality Trust has found that in the last 20 years alone, the gap in life expectancy for those in different local authority areas has increased 41 per cent for men and a staggering 73 per cent for women.Yesterday’s publication of life expectancy figures seemed to reveal a population living longer, healthier, and according to some, happier lives. But this obscures a more important story - the persistent and alarming gap in life expectancy between those at the top and bottom.

The Local Authority with the highest male life expectancy is East Dorset. Here men can now expect to live almost a decade (8.9 years) longer than those in Blackpool, the authority with the lowest life expectancy. The gap is just as dramatic for women. Those in Purbeck live over 7 years longer than those in Manchester, and there is now an 18 year difference in 'healthy life expectancy' between women living in Richmond (72 yrs) and Tower Hamlets (54 yrs)./.../