UK bottom of table for life-expectancy rises
Public health experts suggest cuts to blame as country falls behind in mortality improvements
THE UK has experienced the biggest slowdown in life expectancy growth across major nations, data suggest.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that Britain is at the bottom of a league table of 20 leading countries when it comes to improvements in mortality for pensioners.
The ONS report highlights a “sharp increase” in deaths in 2015 and warns of worsening mortality rates in some parts of the UK.
Public health experts have blamed failings in care of the elderly and cuts to social services. Charities described the findings as “deeply depressing,” with calls for extra investment into care.
Between 2011 and 2016, average life expectancy for women aged 65 and over increased by one week per year in the UK. In the previous six years, it had increased by ten weeks annually. Life expectancy for men of this age rose by three and a half weeks per year – compared with a 12-week annual boost achieved over the previous six years. In both cases, the UK figures for 2011 to 2016 showed the least improvement among all the countries tracked.
And in some parts of Britain, mortality fell, with falling female mortality in Wales between 2011 and 2016.
The statistics also show a dramatic drop in the increase in life expectancy at birth, with only the US faring worse. Improvements in female life expectancy dropped by 90 per cent, with a 75 per cent drop for men.
The UK’S average annual gain of 1.5 weeks a year for men and 1.2 weeks for women compares with an average of 10.4 weeks for men and 6.7 weeks for women across all the countries. The ONS said some of the UK’S drop was due to a relatively large increase in male life expectancy from 2001 to 2011.
Sir Steve Webb, the former Liberal Democrat pensions minister and the director of policy at Royal London, said: “There is a real human cost behind these statistics and we urgently need to understand more about why this is happening.”
Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said: “It’s deeply depressing that the rise in life expectancy among the over-65s in the UK is faltering and that we’re falling behind most other developed countries in this crucial respect. It’s hard to attribute precise cause and effect, but the fact we are seeing this trend at the same time as our health and care services are under such acute strain is surely more than a coincidence.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The recent trends in life expectancy and mortality in the UK are also evident in countries across Europe, North America and Australia. We want to understand these changing trends, which is why we have asked Public Health England to review this.”
One of the most remarkable public health stories of recent decades has been the rapid rise in life expectancy. In pre-history, the chances of living to the age of 30 were remote. Even in the 17th century, life expectancy was not much above 40 years. By 1972, the average in the UK and other advanced economies was 71 years. Today, it is over 80.
The speed of the increase in the past 40 years has taken policy-makers by surprise but new figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest it has now stalled. The slowdown in the UK is one of the biggest among the world’s leading economies.
For males at birth, the US endured the greatest slowing in life expectancy, followed by the UK and then Spain. In America, the increase is now 1.5 weeks per year compared to the 14.1 weeks annual increase recorded between 2005 and 2010. The UK still outperforms this, falling to 4.2 weeks a year from 17.3 weeks across the same period.
Drops were also noted in 10 other countries: Spain, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Belgium and Poland. But Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Japan all made improvements, while Switzerland stayed the same.
Why is this happening? Living longer puts people at greater risk of contracting dementia and other illnesses associated with age. It is inevitable, therefore, that the pace of increase in life expectancy will slow if older people contract diseases that will kill them in their early eighties. Similarly, poor diet can cause ailments that are exacerbated with age, such as diabetes and heart disease. Tackling these early will keep longevity levels growing and ensure a decent quality of life.
Why the rate of growth should be slowing faster in the UK than elsewhere is harder to explain. Characteristically, the Labour Party has attributed it to austerity, claiming that cuts in health and care are to blame even though budgets have risen in both. It would be just as valid to point out that none of the other countries follows the NHS model that the Left always says is the best in the world.
One issue in the UK is that serious lifethreatening illnesses like cancer are often picked up later than elsewhere. What is needed is far greater emphasis on preventative medicine that can identify potential diseases at an early stage and forestall premature death or expensive treatment and care.