The Health Foundation's analysis of the latest Office for National Statistics figures on healthy life expectancy has shed uncomfortable new light on the country's poor and deteriorating health. The findings reveal that healthy life expectancy is less than 55 years in the UK's poorest areas, indicating that many people in these regions enter ill-health during their working age.
Key findings
Healthy life expectancy captures how long people live in good health, free of illness or disability. Unlike life expectancy, which only measures how long people live, this metric provides a more comprehensive picture of the nation's health by considering the quality of life. The longer someone enjoys a life free of pain, surgery, medical attention, and regular medication, the better their life.
Internationally, among other rich countries, healthy life expectancy is rising modestly by four-tenths of a year over the last decade. However, the UK presents a different picture. Between 2012-14 and 2022-24, healthy life expectancy fell by two years across the population as a whole. It now stands at 60.7 years for men and 60.9 years for women.
Regional disparities
The thinktank notes that in 2022-24, healthy life expectancy in most areas was below the current state pension age of 66 years. This means that on average, people spend some years in ill-health before reaching retirement. In the poorest areas, it is less than 55 years, indicating that many individuals in these regions are entering ill-health during their working age.
Implications for government policy
These findings are a shock but not a surprise, as they align with existing evidence about the UK's health decline, especially among working-age adults. Despite this, successive governments have done too little to respond. The consequences are dire, including a growing economic and fiscal impact as well as a substantial human cost.
The UK's two-year fall in healthy life expectancy means it is diverging from trends seen in most comparable high-income countries. The huge toll of avoidable illness related to people's lifestyles helps explain this difference. For example, 40% of cancers are preventable and linked to poor diet, alcohol, and smoking. Experts scoff at the government claim that it is already radical in its approach to deep-seated public health problems such as obesity and excessive drinking.
Recommended policies
The Health Foundation recommends trying truly bold policies, such as extending the principle of the sugar tax to force food firms to remove unnecessary fat, salt, and sugar from other products, and bringing in minimum unit pricing of alcohol, as Scotland has done. Ministers should adopt a new approach that looks beyond the NHS to focus on the drivers of ill-health.
Labour last year unveiled a 10-year health plan to both fix the NHS and improve the population's health, especially through a big shift from treatment to prevention. But progress so far is slow, and the results are visible in only a few places. At the moment, worsening public health is outrunning the grand plan to turn it round. Time is running out.
