People in deprived areas die sooner

Life expectancy in the most deprived areas fell "significantly" in the three years to 2020, while the inequality gap with people living in better off areas grew even wider, new figures show.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) say the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 is likely to have affected the changes in expectancy, with the most deprived areas experiencing the highest rates of death involving the virus.

The data shows that females living in the most deprived areas of England saw their life expectancy drop to 78.3 in the years between 2018 and 2020 – down from 78.7 in 2015-17.

Males saw expectancy fall from 74.0 to 73.5 – the "significant decrease" since 2011.

The ONS said: “The mortality increase in 2020 associated with the coronavirus pandemic has affected life expectancy and the most deprived areas experienced the highest rates of death involving Covid-19.”

It says it is too soon for the data to reflect the full impact of Covid-19 on the inequality of life expectancy.

The figures show that not only do males and females living in the most deprived areas have shorter life spans overall, but they also live a larger number of years in poorer states of health.

In 2018 to 2020, male healthy life expectancy at birth in the most deprived areas of England was estimated at 52.3 years, compared with 70.5 in the least deprived areas.

The gap for females was even wider, with 51.9 years of good health for those in the most deprived areas - almost 20 years fewer than those living in the least deprived areas (70.7 years).