Chances of a longer life are grim up North

MORE people in the North are dying early than those in the South, in a growing health divide across the country, research has found.

A study of death records shows a “tale of two Englands” with people in the North 20 per cent more likely to die under the age of 75 than those in the South.

The study, led by the University of Manchester, found there were 14,333 more premature deaths in the North than in the South in 2015, and 1.2million more early deaths in the North between 1965 and 2015.

Deaths among middleaged adults have been rising since the mid-1990s – 49 per cent more among 35 to 44-year-olds in the North than the South in 2015; 29 per cent more among 25 to 34-year-olds.

Lead researcher Prof Iain Buchan said: “Five decades of death records tell a tale of two Englands, divided by resources and life expectancy – a profound inequality resistant to the public health interventions of successive governments. A new approach is required, one that must address the economic and social factors that underpin early deaths, and one that focuses on rebalancing the wider economy to help drive investment in northern towns and cities.”

Prof Tim Doran, the coauthor from the University of York, said: “These important findings were made possible by examining public health data – held by the NHS and other agencies – dating back decades.”

The study used data from the Office for National Statistics on the English population from 1965 to 2015. It was supported by the Health eresearch Centre at the University of Manchester, part of the Farr Institute, and is funded through a consortium led by the Medical Research Council. The results will be published in the BMJ’S Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.