Life expectancy in some parts of the UK has plummeted, according to official figures. Residents in former mining towns and isolated rural areas saw the biggest fall.
By 2041, women will live to 86.2 years and men 83.4 years, projections by the Office for National Statistics showed – a decrease of almost a whole year compared to previous figures released in 2015.
In Torridge, Devon, male life expectancy dipped to 79.2 years – a decline of more than a year. Hartlepool saw a similar decline of more than 12 months to 76.4. In Amber Valley, Derbyshire, female life expectancy dropped by more than a year to 82.4 compared to 2015’s figures.
While experts were unclear on the exact causes for the fall many are pointing to cuts to frontline services along with growing levels of inequality for an overall decline in public health.
Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at the University of Oxford, said influenza, obesity, alcohol and smoking could largely be ruled out as contributory factors.
“The fall in life expectancy in several geographical areas of England is most likely a result of the effects of public service cuts and austerity,” he said. “Many other possibilities can be ruled out. Rates of smoking and drinking alcohol have fallen in recent years so that cannot be blamed. Between 2009 and very late 2017 there has been no serious influenza outbreak. A government that has chosen to make these cuts, and any of the organisations it directly sponsors, will understandably find this very hard to face up to.”
In November, an article in the British Medical Journal Open found that severe public spending cuts in the UK were associated with 120,000 deaths between 2010 and 2017.
Dr Wanda Wyporska, executive director of the Equality Trust, said the decline fits with an overall increase in inequality in deprived areas.
“In a country with such high inequality, it is not surprising that we are seeing a decline in life expectancy,” she said. “Inequality leads to earlier deaths and poorer quality of life. We know that we expect to see inequality increase in former industrial areas, so this is not surprising. How many more of these reports do we need before the government takes this seriously?”
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