The north-south divide in life expectancy in England has grown over the past decade, with people in northern regions facing more illnesses such as heart disease and cancer, but also suicides and deaths related to alcohol and drug misuse.
Provisional figures show life expectancy reached an all-time high in 2025, with men and women in England living, on average, for 80 years and nearly 84 years respectively, but the gains were overwhelmingly in the south, the King’s Fund said.
Despite suffering the sharpest fall in lifespan during the Covid pandemic, life expectancy in London rose by nearly a year in the decade to 2023-25. The south-east, south-west and east of England also recorded gains.
But the half of England’s population who live in five northern regions, namely the north-west, the north-east, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands and East Midlands, experienced little or no rise in life expectancy over the same period, reflecting greater levels of deprivation.
According to the health charity, people in London can now expect to live three years longer than those in the north-east. Even starker disparities emerged at the local level, with life expectancy in Blackpool, Lancashire, being 10 years shorter for men and eight years shorter for women than in Hart, Hampshire.
“In the most deprived 30% of areas, life expectancy either fell or didn’t improve over the past decade and that’s a disturbing story,” said Veena Raleigh, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund. “Meanwhile, it went up by half a year in the least deprived 30% of areas.”
“Over the past decade, the north has fallen further behind, and the plans for levelling up and the regeneration of the north haven’t materialised,” Raleigh added. “This isn’t just a question of fixing the health service. It requires a cross-government drive to also address the wider, underlying determinants of health, for example, ensuring people have secure jobs, fair pay, adequate housing, clean air, accessible transport and affordable access to healthy diets.”
The government’s 10-year plan for the NHS aims to increase healthy life expectancy – the number of years people spend in good health – for everyone in England, while halving the gap between the richest and poorest. But the King’s Fund called the goal “unrealistic”, requiring improvements in population health on a scale not seen in decades.
Healthy life expectancy fell in all regions of England in the decade to 2022-24, with people now spending on average about 2.5 years longer in poor health, the charity found. The regional divide has remained unchanged at about six to seven years, but can reach 20 years between the most and least deprived regions. The figures mean those in the most deprived parts of England have shorter lives and spend more years in poor health.
“Although the government’s 10-year health plan promises a shift from sickness to prevention, the focus is mainly on reducing waiting lists and waiting times,” Raleigh said. “Public health and prevention of ill health need to be much higher up the policy agenda, for example, to tackle the rising prevalence of obesity.
skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every weekday
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
“The increasing prevalence of ill health in adults of working age, in particular, is deeply concerning because it risks jeopardising the life course of some young people with, additionally, the high costs of rising economic inactivity.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government’s aim to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy reflected the “scale and complexity of the challenge”. They said £2.2bn was being repurposed for critical resources such as medicines and medical equipment in deprived areas.
“Someone’s postcode should never dictate how long they live, and this government is determined to tackle the stark inequalities that still exist across Britain,” the spokesperson said. “We’re already taking action, from allocating GP funding more fairly to delivering pioneering neighbourhood health centres in the areas that need them most. But we will now go further in devolving power to local communities, putting decision-making into the hands of those who know their areas best and driving lasting change across the country.”
