Overview
- New ONS estimates put healthy life expectancy at 60.9 years for girls and 60.7 for boys born in 2022–24, the lowest since records began.
- The gap between England’s best and worst areas has widened to 19.1 years for women and 18.4 for men, with Richmond upon Thames topping both lists.
- Blackpool records the lowest male figure at 50.9 years, Hartlepool has the lowest for women in England at 51.2, and Merthyr Tydfil posts the UK’s lowest for women at 50.1.
- Scotland’s NRS reports North Lanarkshire as lowest at 52.9 years for men and 52.3 for women, with island estimates high but flagged as uncertain and classed as statistics in development.
- Researchers and regional health groups link the declines to deprivation, pandemic impacts and cost‑of‑living pressures, urging place‑based action beyond NHS reform.