A girl born over the three years to 2023 in London is likely to enjoy more healthy years than those born a decade ago, new figures suggest. However, across England and Wales, healthy life expectancy has fallen while overall life expectancy has remained static, which the King’s Fund think tank called “an urgent problem”.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show a girl born between 2021 and 2023 in London is expected to enjoy 64 healthy years. This is down slightly from 64.2 years for girls born between 2020 and 2022, but above 63.8 years for those born between 2011 and 2013.
Across England, healthy life expectancy for newborn girls has fallen by two years in a decade, from 63.9 to 61.9 years. Further ONS figures released last year show life expectancy nationally has remained relatively stable, meaning the proportion of a person’s life expected to be spent in poor health has likely grown.
The figures counted the number of ‘healthy years’ Londoners could expect to live
(Image: DMP/Getty Images)
In London, Hammersmith saw the greatest improvement in healthy life expectancy, where it rose by 5.3 years. Meanwhile, the greatest fall was by eight years in Lewisham.
Lewisham had the lowest ‘healthy life’ expectancy for baby girls born in 2021-2023 at 57.1 years, followed by Tower Hamlets with 59.2 years and Greenwich at 59.5 years. At the other end of the spectrum, baby girls born in Richmond can expect to enjoy 70.2 healthy years, followed by Kingston upon Thames with 69.4 and Bromley with 69.2.
Dr Veenu Raleigh, senior fellow at the King’s Fund, said the coronavirus pandemic means the UK’s life expectancy is “pretty much bottom of the pack” when compared to the rest of Europe, particularly for female life expectancy. She explained: “That is because our health has not improved as much as in other countries.”
In other local authority areas, Barnsley in Yorkshire and The Humber had the lowest healthy life expectancy for women in England with 52.6 years, while Wokingham in the South East had the highest at 70.8. Dr Raleigh said the national north/south divide was clear in the figures, and tackling the issue was important for public health, but also for the Government’s economic growth plans.
She warned “deprivation, employment, environment and air pollution” are all challenges to be tackled. She said: “I think it’s both a human imperative to reduce these inequalities, but also an economic imperative. We have increasing numbers of people of all ages not working due to ill health. To tackle it does need a significant increase in government strategy and investment, investing in public health, and also addressing the economic decline of some of these places.”
The data also shows healthy life expectancy for boys born in London has increased slightly by 0.4 years over the last decade – to 63.9 years in 2021 to 2023.
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