Poor Health In Older Age Leading To Healthy Life Expectancy Decline
A new study has revealed record lows for healthy life expectancy and a widening gap between rich and poor places.
The data shows that healthy life expectancy has dropped to the lowest levels in the UK since records began 15 years ago while the gap between different local authority areas is also at record highs for males and joint record highs for women.
Healthy life expectancy has decreased in more than four out of five of the UK’s local areas compared with 2019 to 2021 and in every region of England.
Women born in the UK can now expect to live less than three-quarters of their life (73%) before poor health sets in – men slightly higher at 77%.
In England healthy life expectancy at birth in 2022 to 2024 was 60.9 years for men and 61.3 years for women. This represents a drop of seven months for both men and women since the previous year (2021 to 2023) and a drop of 22 months for men and 29 months for women since the end of the pandemic (2019 to2021).
Healthy life expectancy was highest in the South East (63 years for men and 64.3 years for women) and lowest in North East (57 years for men and 56.9 years for women) in 2022 to 2024. For men, the largest fall in healthy life expectancy since 2019 to 2021 was in the North West region (32 months). For women it was in in the South West, where there has been a fall of 43 months – more than three and a half years.
And this data also shows how regional gaps in healthy life expectancy have widened for women. The gap in healthy life expectancy between South East and North East regions for women increased from 6.8 years in 2019 to 2021 to 7.4 years in 2022 to 2024.
At a local level differences are even more stark. There is almost 20 years difference between the healthy life expectancy for people in the wealthiest and poorest places. The healthy life expectancy for men in Blackpool is 50.9 compared to 69.3 years in Richmond upon Thames. In Blackpool, the healthy life expectancy for women in 2022 to 2024 was 51.8 years compared to Richmond upon Thames where it is 70.3 years. The healthy life expectancy gap between these two places increased by 34 months for women and 36 months for men since 2019-2021.
Sarah Wilkinson, Evidence Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better, said:
“Once again, we find that many people are experiencing poor health in older age and that there is a worrying trend of growing inequalities in this measure in England and Wales. There is a great deal work to be done if we are to tackle this problem.
“Getting older is a vastly different experience for different people. Where you live, how much money you earn – these are significant factors in shaping our health in later life.
“Even though some older people are comfortable, many are not. It’s a gross simplification to assume that older equates to wealthier.
“We continue to see a gap between different parts of the country – and this shows no signs of closing.”
She added: “This year, the state pension age is scheduled to start rising to 67 from April, but long before this age, many people have fallen into poor health. In many areas of the country, poor health can start in someone’s 50s. This means that roughly a third of a person’s working life can be affected by poor health.
“If we are serious about facing up to these problems – and challenging them – doing nothing is not an option. As a leading industrialised nation, the UK must confront declining healthy life expectancy and the stark inequalities behind it, because no modern economy can thrive when large parts of its population are living shorter, less healthy lives.”
“Statistics tell a story, and show us that there is a need for a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing for England, who will speak on behalf of forgotten older people.
“Getting older is part of the human condition. If we live, we age. Our later years shouldn’t be experienced as a time of misery and hardship. We therefore urge government to look at the problems that affect older people and act accordingly.”
