Region’s life expectancy rates falling – and experts say it’s due to austerity
North East Life Expectancy Rates
Reporters LIFE expectancy rates are falling across large areas of the North, with experts saying the government’s austerity measures are at least partly to blame.
We have analysed official data which revealed the worrying fall is affecting both men and women.
Middlesbrough has the lowest figure in the region and one of the worst in the UK as a whole.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal the life expectancy rates for men there is 75.8 – the seventh lowest in the UK. For women the figure is 79.6, the UK’s sixth lowest.
Meanwhile Newcastle, Gateshead, County Durham, and Hartlepool also registered a drop for men.
North and South Tyneside both saw a rise as did Sunderland and Darlington, while Northumberland remained the same.
For women, only County Durham, Sunderland and Darlington saw a rise. Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Gateshead saw a fall, while the other areas remained the same.
Dr Kingsley Purdam, of the University of Manchester, said: “The new UK life expectancy estimates from the ONS are shocking.
“The increases in life expectancy for both men and women in recent years are flatlining.
“A number of often interrelated factors are associated with lower life expectancy including: low income, employment status, the local envi- Newcastle.....................77.4 Middlesbrough ..........75.8 Gateshead....................77.5 South Tyneside...........77.6 North Tyneside...........77.9 County Durham.........78.0 Sunderland..................77.2 Northumberland.......79.2 Hartlepool....................76.4 Darlington....................78.2 77.8 76.1 77.7 77.5 77.7 78.1 77.0 79.2 76.8 77.9 ronment, housing, access to health care, smoking and alcohol consumption levels, diet, exercise, social status and social isolation.
“Austerity and the cuts in public services, including for older people with care needs, are also thought to be a factor.”
The figures are from the ONS and we compared the latest 2014 to 2016 rate to the previous 2013 to 2015.
Even in some areas where the rate had gone up, compared to previous years it has actually fallen too. For example in North Tyneside for men it was 78.0 in 2011 to 2013 compared to 77.9 now.
Overall there a growing downward trend in the region, the first for years.
Professor Richard Faragher, an expert in ageing at the University of Brighton, said: Essentially, austerity has unmasked the unhealthy ageing of our population.”
Prof Faragher said a reversal to cuts to social care budgets would improve the situation and called for Newcastle.....................81.3 Middlesbrough ..........79.6 Gateshead....................81.3 South Tyneside...........81.5 North Tyneside...........82.4 County Durham.........81.3 Sunderland..................81.1 Northumberland.......82.6 Hartlepool....................81.3 Darlington....................82.1 81.5 79.8 81.4 81.5 82.4 81.2 80.9 82.6 81.3 81.9 a national institute for ageing to fund research into the area.
The ONS said that about half the boys born in the past few years will reach the age of 82 and half of the girls will reach 85.
Life expectancy has generally risen in the UK in the 21st century, although in recent years this pace has slowed down. And there is a North-South divide in the figures.
Nine of the top 10 areas with the highest lifespans for women were in London and southern England, while the bottom 20 areas were all in northern England, Scotland and Wales.
Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, which has the worst figures, said they were ‘shocking’ but ‘don’t come as a surprise’.
He said: “The Tories adherence to austerity that has so damaged constituencies like mine, means far too many people are being left behind with their life chances continually driven down whilst the very wealthiest continue to thrive.”