North-south and deprivation divide widens despite increases in life expectancy

The north–south divide in life expectancy in England has widened over the past decade, analysis from The King’s Fund shows.  

Life expectancy in England in 2025 reached the highest levels ever recorded, but the gains in longevity have not been shared equally, with a difference of three years between London and the North East. These geographical inequalities reflect socio-economic inequalities and greater levels of deprivation in northern regions. 

Life expectancy has consistently been the lowest nationally for almost half of the population of England living in the Northern regions (the North East and North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East and West Midlands), with little or no improvement in the decade preceding 2023-25. In contrast, life expectancy increased in London and the South East, South West and East of England regions, despite London experiencing the sharpest fall in life expectancy during the pandemic.  

People living in the most deprived 30% of areas experienced a fall or no improvement in life expectancy in the decade to 2022-24. And geographical and socio-economic inequalities in life expectancy have been widening since 2010, and people in all regions spend fewer years in good health.  

The King’s Fund has reviewed life expectancy and healthy life expectancy statistics in its explainer and data briefing.  

It concludes that the government’s goal* to increase healthy life expectancy for everyone in England and halve the gap between the richest and poorest regions looks unrealistic. Achieving these goals would require improvements in population health on a scale not seen in recent decades. Healthy life expectancy is on a downward trend, having fallen by about 2.5 years in the decade to 2022-24; all regions have experienced a decline, and the regional divide remains unchanged at 6-7 years. 

In this analysis, The King’s Fund also compares further health indicators for London and, for contrast, the North East region, which has the lowest life expectancy. On these markers, Londoners are healthier than their Northeastern counterparts.  

These markers include premature mortality from big killers such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and “deaths of despair”, which include suicide and deaths related to alcohol and drug misuse. These deaths are fewer in number but often associated with socio-economic and psychological stress resulting from economic disadvantage. Death rates from these causes are among the lowest in London and the South East, and highest in the North East. 

The impact of weak gains in life expectancy in the pre-pandemic decade, followed by higher mortality during the pandemic and then a weaker recovery has caused the UK’s life expectancy to slide behind most comparable high-income countries. The UK is now lowest of all comparable high-income countries, apart from Germany and the United States of America.  

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 3 “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.’ 

Further findings from these briefings include:  

• In 2022-24, males living in the least deprived 10% of areas in England could expect to live about a decade longer than males in the 10% most deprived areas, and for females the difference was 8 years. The gap in healthy life expectancy is even greater – two decades. Hence people in deprived areas have shorter lives and spend a higher proportion of their lives in poor health.  

• Gender differences in life expectancy are greater in more deprived areas. In 2022-24 females lived an average of 5.1 years longer than males in the most deprived 10% of areas, compared with 2.8 years longer in the least deprived 10%.    

• London has shown exceptional short-term and long-term trends in life expectancy. It had the sharpest fall in life expectancy during the pandemic, followed by the sharpest post-pandemic recovery, and between 2013–15 and 2023-2025, Londoners experienced the greatest increase in life expectancy of all regions.  

Notes to editors 

• *The government’s goal in its 10 Year Health Plan for England is to increase healthy life expectancy for everyone and halve the gap in it between the richest and poorest regions.  

• Healthy life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health. It is a composite of two elements – contemporary mortality rates and the prevalence of self-reported ‘good health’ from survey data on how individuals perceive their general health. 

• Life expectancy estimates are derived from the mortality rates for a population, so life expectancy rises when mortality rates fall and vice-versa.