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London’s shocking ‘health expectancy’ gap revealed: People in wealthier boroughs live extra decade 'in good health'

by DD Staff

December 13, 2024

A map using ONS data reveals the stark differences between health life expectancy in different areas of London

key takeaways

According to study, those who live in affluent London boroughs have a ten-fold longer lifespan in "good health" than people who live in less affluent places.

Between 2021 and 2023, men in Richmond lived to 69.5 in good health, while those in Lewisham lived to 57.8, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The average number of years that a person would anticipate to live in excellent health is known as the healthy life expectancy, or HLE. It is computed using the population's self-reported good health prevalence and death rates.

On average, a man in London can expect to live to 63.9 in good health while a woman can expect to live until 64.

While London has the highest overall HLE of any region in the country, analysis reveals stark differences between poor and wealthy boroughs in the capital.

Richmond has the HLE for men (69.5) and women (70.2), followed by Kingston upon Thames (68.8 for men, 69.4 for women).

But in Lewisham, the HLE is just 57.8 for men and 57.2 for women. It is followed by Tower Hamlets, where the HLE for men is 60 and 59.2 for women.

Men in Lewisham live nearly 7 years less in good health compared with a decade ago, while women have seen a fall of 8 years in their HLE.

In Tower Hamlets, the HLE for men and women improved up until the pandemic hit, when it dropped by 3.5 and 4.8 respectively.

Veena Raleigh, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said: “While this data reflects the impact of the pandemic, both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in England were stalling before Covid-19 struck. There has now been a prolonged period during which the health of England’s population has not just failed to improve, it has deteriorated.

“This shows how challenging it will be for the government to achieve its ambition of halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions in England. Poor health is also a serious impediment to economic growth, with an estimated 2.8m people unable to work due to ill health.

“Turning this ship around will require concerted cross-government action and investment to improve population health and tackle the socio-economic factors driving health inequalities that scar the nation and blight the lives of individuals, families and communities.”