Poorest women in England are dying nearly 10 years younger than rich, finds study

The poorest women in society are dying almost a decade earlier than the richest, new figures reveal.

Between 2012-14 and 2015-17, there was a drop of 98 days in the life expectancy at birth of women in the most deprived areas of England, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Meanwhile, life expectancy for women in the least deprived areas had risen by 84 days.

Overall, the figures revealed that life expectancy at birth between 2015 and 2017 for women living in the most deprived areas of England was 78.7 years, compared with 86.2 years for those in the least deprived areas.

This equates to a gap of around seven and a half years in the length of the lives of the poorest and wealthiest women.

The gap had also widened for men, although less markedly than that of women.

Among men, the ONS statistics revealed that life expectancy for those in the most deprived areas of England was 74 years, compared with 83.3 years in the least deprived areas – a difference of nearly 10 years.

Ben Humberstone, deputy director for health analysis and life events at the Office for National Statistics, said life expectancy in the UK has stopped improving at the rate that was expected before 2011.

“We’ve found a large fall in life expectancy at birth among women living in the most deprived areas in England when comparing the periods 2012 to 2014 and 2015 to 2017,” he said.

“This is in contrast to the continued increases in life expectancy for women living in the least deprived areas. This has led to a significant widening in the inequality in life expectancy at birth in England.

“Wales mirrored this pattern, although significant changes were not detected.”

The ONS has said it will be carrying out further work to analyse the factors contributing to the widening gap and the impact of deprivation.

Faiza Shaheen, the director of the Class thinktank, told The Guardian that a number of factors could be playing a role in the increasing gap, including widening inequality, austerity-fuelled cuts to health and social care, increasing job insecurity, access to good food and hunger.

“For a long time, of course, growing life expectancy has been a sign of society progressing, so if that’s reversing, and we have seen this for the last few years now, then we have got some serious questions to ask ourselves about what progress looks like,” Shaheen said.

“One hundred days is a lot. A lot of people would love to have just one more day with their loved ones.”

The new figures follow a recent study by academics at Imperial College London which revealed that child mortality rates were considerably higher among deprived communities, with poorer children two-and-a-half times more likely to die before they reach adulthood than those from wealthier families.

The findings also revealed that people in the poorest areas died at a higher rate from all illnesses. However, those that showed the greatest difference between rich and poor, were respiratory diseases, heart disease, lung and digestive cancers and dementias.

Professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the research from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said at the time: “Falling life expectancy in the poorest communities is a deeply worrying indicator of the state of our nation’s health, and shows that we are leaving the most vulnerable out of the collective gain.

“We currently have a perfect storm of factors that can impact on health, and that are leading to poor people dying younger.

“Working income has stagnated and benefits have been cut, forcing many working families to use foodbanks. The price of healthy foods like fresh fruit and vegetables has increased relative to unhealthy, processed food, putting them out of the reach of the poorest.”