6. Regional life expectancy

Life expectancy varied across English regions in each period examined and tended to be higher among those living in the south than in the north and midlands.

Life expectancy at birth

In 2009-11, life expectancy at birth was highest in the South East where males could expect to live for 80.0 years and females 83.8 years. Conversely, these figures were lowest in the North West for males (77.4 years) and in the North East for females (81.5 years).

Life expectancy was higher for females than males across all regions in each period examined. In addition, this inequality in life expectancy between the sexes was consistently smaller in the South East and East of England than in any other region.

Life expectancy increased in each region between 2005–07 and 2009–11, with London experiencing the greatest improvement for both males (1.6 years) and females (1.3 years). Improvements in other regions varied between 1.1 and 1.3 years for males and 0.9 and 1.2 years for females.

A number of factors have been identified as plausibly being responsible for the excess mortality, and consequently lower life expectancy, in the northern regions of England. These include socioeconomic, environmental (including working conditions), educational, epigenetic, and lifestyle, which may act over the whole life course, and possibly over generations (Hacking, Muller and Buchan, 2011).

One factor that has received less attention is the selective migration of healthy individuals from poorer health areas into better health areas or vice-versa.

This type of migration has been shown to play a significant role in increasing or decreasing location-specific illness and mortality rates, and consequently life expectancy figures. Norman, Boyle and Rees (2005) demonstrated that the largest absolute flow within England and Wales between 1971 and 1991 was of relatively healthy people moving from more deprived into less deprived areas. The impact of this migration was to raise ill-health and mortality rates where these people originated from and lower them in the destinations. The authors also noted that the benefit to less deprived areas was reinforced by a significant group of people in poor health who moved from less to more deprived locations.

Evidence from the pattern of interregional migration between 1991 and 2010 (ONS, 2013b) also suggests that there might be a selective migration effect at play; there was a higher flow of people into southern regions than out while the reverse was the case in the North East and North West. However, it is not possible to quantify the extent to which better health areas are benefiting from selective migration of healthy people since the health status of these migrants is not known.

In a recent study, Hacking, Muller and Buchan, 2011 examined trends in mortality across the north-south divide in England over a period of four decades. In addition to the excess deaths observed in northern regions throughout the period, they also noted that 14% of such deaths in 2004–06 were attributed to the prevalence of smoking while 3.5% in 2005 was associated with alcohol consumption. In addition, death rates for potentially avoidable causes, such as certain cancers, respiratory and heart disease, are significantly higher in northern regions than in the south (ONS, 2013c).

Table 3: Life expectancy at birth: by sex and region, 2005-07 to 2009-11 Years Region 2005-07 2006-08 2007-09 2008-10 2009-11 Males North East 76.2 76.4 76.7 77.1 77.5 North West 76.1 76.4 76.6 77.0 77.4 Yorkshire and The Humber 76.8 77.1 77.4 77.7 78.1 East Midlands 77.6 77.8 78.1 78.3 78.7 West Midlands 76.9 77.2 77.5 77.9 78.4 East 78.6 78.9 79.2 79.5 79.9 London 77.7 78.1 78.5 78.8 79.3 South East 78.9 79.1 79.4 79.7 80.0 South West 78.7 78.9 79.1 79.4 79.8 Females North East 80.4 80.5 80.9 81.1 81.5 North West 80.4 80.6 80.8 81.1 81.5 Yorkshire and The Humber 81.1 81.3 81.4 81.7 82.0 East Midlands 81.6 81.8 82.0 82.3 82.8 West Midlands 81.4 81.6 81.9 82.2 82.6 East 82.5 82.7 83.0 83.2 83.6 London 82.3 82.6 82.9 83.2 83.6 South East 82.6 82.9 83.2 83.4 83.8 South West 82.9 83.0 83.2 83.4 83.7 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: 1. Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in calendar years and mid-year population estimates. 2. Figures exclude deaths of non-residents. 3. Figures for 2000 to 2010 are based on mid-year population estimates, revised in light of the 2011 Census. Download this table Table 3: Life expectancy at birth: by sex and region, 2005-07 to 2009-11 .xls

Life expectancy at age 65

In 2009–11, men at age 65 in the South East where life expectancy was highest could expect to live for a further 19.0 years, 1.5 years longer than in the North East with the lowest figure (17.5 years). For women, the comparable highest and lowest life expectancy figures were 21.6 years in London and 20.0 years in the North East.

In contrast to birth, the greatest improvement in male life expectancy at age 65 between 2005–07 and 2009–11 was observed in the West Midlands. However, London remained the region with the greatest gain in female life expectancy.

Gender inequality in life expectancy persisted at age 65, albeit to a smaller extent than at birth. In addition, this inequality was generally smaller in the North East and North West than in other regions.