Sick women of Europe
UK’s unhealthy habits mean baby girls are 18th in EU for life expectancy
UNHEALTHY lifestyles mean British women now have some of the lowest life expectancies in Europe, a report found.
Girls born in the UK today can expect to die three-and-a-half years earlier than top nation Spain due to rising levels of obesity and poor cancer survival rates.
And Scotland has the lowest life expectancy rate of all UK nations – and one of the lowest in Europe.
League tables show British women have an average life expectancy of 83 – ranking 18th out of 28 EU countries – below the likes of Cyprus, Malta, Greece and Slovenia. Only a handful of countries, including Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania, did worse.
British women also fare badly when it comes to premature deaths – defined as those before the age of 75, the report by Public Health England (PHE) found.
Many are caused by cancer, heart disease, strokes and type 2 diabetes, which are linked to smoking, alcohol and junk food diets.
Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, said: ‘It is certainly of concern that we have worse outcomes than other European countries. We are in the middle of the pack and we would like to be at the top. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be as healthy as anywhere.
‘Obesity is a cause of breast cancer so reducing obesity would help to improve cancer outcomes.’
British men as a whole fared better with an average life expectancy of 79, putting them tenth in the same rankings.
In Scotland, girls born between 2014 and 2016 can now expect to live for 81.2 years, with boys reaching 77.1 years.
Health officials cautioned that women can expect to spend almost a quarter of their lives in poor health – 19.3 years compared with 16.2 years for men.
The warning comes days after World Health Organisation data revealed four in ten British women are failing to do enough exercise. Many now drink as much as men for the first time, risking liver disease, cancer and other illnesses.
Professor Newton suggested the only way the UK’s standing will improve is by tackling the causes.
The PHE report found people are still living longer, with the number of people over 85 having tripled since the 1970s.
But life expectancy growth for both sexes is slowing, with experts suggesting it could soon ‘plateau’.
Scotland’s average life expectancy has stopped rising, figures show, while data published this year by the Registrar General reveals life expectancy can vary by seven years depending on where a baby is born – and by ten-and-ahalf years depending on how deprived the area is.
The Age UK charity described the latest snapshot as ‘deeply depressing’, saying: ‘Surely this is a wake-up call to all of us to take responsibility for our health.’