Gap in life expectancy between the north and south has widened, new study reveals
A new study says it is unlikely the gap in lie expectancy between the north and south will ever be equalised.
The North–South divide in life expectancy in England has widened over the past decade, a new analysis shows.
The King’s Fund found life expectancy reached the highest levels ever recorded in 2025, but the gains are not represented equally across the country.
The health charity said the figures reflected the greater levels of deprivation seen in some areas of the north.
The King’s Fund concluded that the Government’s aim to increase healthy life expectancy for everyone in England and halve the gap between the richest and poorest regions looks “unrealistic”.
It said achieving these aims would require improvements in population health on a scale not seen in recent decades.
Life expectancy has consistently been the lowest nationally for almost half of the population of England living in the North (the North East and North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East and West Midlands), with little or no improvement in the decade before 2023-25.
In contrast, life expectancy increased in London and the South East, the South West and East of England regions, despite London experiencing the sharpest fall in life expectancy during the pandemic.
There were also stark figures when it came to how many years of life people spend in good health.
Overall, healthy life expectancy everywhere is on a downward trend, having fallen by about 2.5 years in the decade to 2022-24.
Figures show that in 2022-24, men living in the least deprived 10% of areas in England could expect to live about a decade longer overall than men in the 10% most deprived areas, and for females the difference was eight years.
But the gap in healthy life expectancy was even greater – at two decades.
This means people in the most deprived areas both have shorter lives and spend more of their lives in poor health.
A close examination of people in London compared with those in the North East showed Northerners fare particularly badly in areas such as early death from heart disease and cancer, as well as suicide and deaths linked to alcohol and drug misuse.
UK life expectancy is now also lowest of all comparable high-income countries, apart from Germany and the US.
Veena Raleigh, senior fellow at the King’s Fund said: “That people in our Northern and deprived communities have seen little or no improvement in longevity over a decade, in contrast to the health gains in their Southern and more well-off counterparts, is a mark of shame for an affluent country.
“Addressing this inequity in the nation’s health is not just a matter of social justice, it would reduce pressures on the NHS and the high economic costs of ill-health.
“Improving population health and reducing entrenched health inequalities have never been more urgent and yet also more challenging, given the economic constraints facing the country.
“It will require concerted, bold, cross-governmental action to reduce largely preventable illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes associated with poor diet, drinking and smoking, and tackle the wider determinants driving persistent poor health, especially among northern and deprived communities.
“One of the three ‘radical shifts’ in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan is from sickness to prevention.
“One year on, and the modest moves on this front fall well short of the bold action needed to improve public health, reduce inequalities and increase people’s lives and the years they spend in good health.”
Latest figures for Lancashire show that life expectancy for men in the county is 78.7 years, below the average for England of 79.7.
Blackpool - at 74.2 years - has the lowest life expectancy in the country.
Only Ribble Valley (81.2 years) and West Lancashire (80.7) had a significantly better male life expectancy compared to the England average.
Meanwhile, South Ribble (80.1 years) and Fylde (79.7 years) were statistically similar to England whilst the eight remaining districts have LEs that were significantly lower than England ranging from 78.9 years in Chorley to 76.5 years in Burnley.