Healthy life expectancy by national area deprivation, England and Wales: between 2013 to 2015 and 2020 to 2022

• Compared with the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period (2017 to 2019), life expectancy at birth in England in 2020 to 2022 decreased in the most deprived areas by 1.4 years for males, to 72.6 years, and by 1.1 years for females, to 77.7 years.

• In England, in 2020 to 2022, the inequality in life expectancy at birth was 10.7 years for males and 8.5 years for females (as measured by the slope index of inequality – see Section 5: Glossary), which continues a general trend of increasing inequality; for healthy life expectancy, these figures were 19.1 and 20.2 years, respectively.

• In 2020 to 2022, at birth, males in the most deprived areas of England were expected to spend 70.4% of life in "good" health, compared with 84.5% in the least deprived areas; during the same period, for females, these figures were the lowest since our time series began (2013 to 2015), at 65.1% and 81.5%, respectively.

• Compared with the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period, life expectancy at birth in Wales in 2020 to 2022 decreased in the most deprived areas, by 0.7 years for males to 73.5 years, and by 1.0 years for females to 77.9 years.

• In Wales, in 2020 to 2022, the inequality in life expectancy at birth (as measured by the slope index of inequality) was 9.5 years for males and 8.0 years for females; for healthy life expectancy, these figures were 19.7 and 24.5 years, respectively.

• In 2020 to 2022 at birth, males in the most deprived areas of Wales were expected to spend 70.2% of life in "good" health compared with 83.6% in the least deprived areas; for females, these figures were the lowest since our time series began, at 61.5% and 80.7%, respectively.

Life expectancy at birth

In 2020 to 2022, life expectancy (LE) at birth in the most deprived areas of England was 72.6 years for males and 77.7 years for females, compared with 83.0 years and 86.1 years, respectively, in the least deprived areas (Table 1).

For both males and females, LE at birth in 2020 to 2022 decreased in every English deprivation decile compared with the last non-overlapping period (2017 to 2019). Decreases were most pronounced in the most deprived areas and particularly among males (Figure 1).

2017 to 2019 was the last pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period. The pandemic led to increased mortality, particularly in 2020 and 2021. The effect of this is seen in our life expectancy estimates for 2020 to 2022.

Inequality in LE and healthy life expectancy (HLE) by deprivation level is estimated using a summary measure called the slope index of inequality (SII). This represents the range in years of life expectancy across the social gradient from most to least deprived; the higher the value of the SII, the greater the inequality within an area.

Inequality of LE at birth in England increased in 2020 to 2022 compared with 2017 to 2019, by 1.1 years for males and 1.0 years (11.7 months) for females. The SII was 10.7 years for males and 8.5 years for females (Figure 2). This continued a broad trend of increasing inequality across the time series.

Healthy life expectancy at birth

In 2020 to 2022, healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth in the most deprived areas of England was 51.1 years for males and 50.5 years for females, compared with 70.1 years and 70.2 years in the least deprived areas, respectively (Table 1).

At birth, males in the most deprived areas of England were expected to spend 70.4% of life in "good" health, compared with 84.5% in the least deprived areas; for females, these proportions were 65.1% and 81.5%, respectively (Figure 3). See Section 5: Glossary for information on how we measure "good" health.

Compared with 2017 to 2019, HLE at birth in 2020 to 2022 decreased in most English deprivation deciles for both males and females.

Inequality of HLE at birth in England increased in 2020 to 2022 for both males and females compared with 2017 to 2019. The SII was 19.1 years for males, an increase of 0.6 years (7.0 months), and 20.2 years for females, an increase of 1.0 years.

Life expectancy at birth

In 2020 to 2022, life expectancy (LE) at birth in the most deprived areas of Wales was 73.5 years for males and 77.9 years for females, compared with 81.3 years and 84.4 years, respectively, in the least deprived areas (Table 2).

Compared with 2017 to 2019, LE at birth in 2020 to 2022 decreased in every Welsh deprivation quintile for males, and in four quintiles for females (Figure 4). These decreases were most pronounced in the most deprived quintile, where LE decreased by 0.7 years for males (7.9 months) and 1.0 years (11.8 months) for females. The last pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period was 2017 to 2019. The pandemic led to increased mortality, particularly in 2020 and 2021; the impact of this is seen in our life expectancy estimates for 2020 to 2022.

Inequality of LE at birth in Wales, as measured by the slope index of inequality (SII), increased in 2020 to 2022 for males and females compared with 2017 to 2019. The SII was 9.5 years for males, an increase of 0.6 years (7.5 months), and 8.0 years for females, an increase of 0.8 years (9.2 months) (Figure 5).

For more information on the SII, see Section 5: Glossary.

Healthy life expectancy at birth

In 2020 to 2022, healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth in the most deprived areas of Wales was 51.6 years for males and 47.9 years for females, compared with 68.0 years and 68.1 years in the least deprived areas, respectively (Table 2).

At birth, males in the most deprived areas of Wales were expected to spend 70.2% of life in "good" health, compared with 83.6% in the least deprived areas. For females, these proportions were the lowest since our time series began, at 61.5% and 80.7%, respectively (Figure 6). See Section 5: Glossary for information on how we measure "good" health.

Compared with 2017 to 2019, the largest decreases in HLE were among females, with decreases of 3.3 years in quintile 1 and 2.6 years in quintile 2. For males, HLE in quintile 1 decreased by 1.6 years.

In 2020 to 2022, the slope index of inequality (SII) for HLE at birth was 24.5 years for females, an increase of 4.1 years compared with 2017 to 2019. Following some improvement in previous periods, the SII for males also increased by 2.1 years, to 19.7 years.

Period life expectancy

The life expectancy (LE) estimates reported in this bulletin are period-based. Period life expectancy, at a given age, is the average number of years a person would live if they experienced the age-specific mortality rates for that time period and IMD quantile throughout their life. More information can be found in our Period and cohort life expectancy explained methodology.

Healthy life expectancy

A summary measure of health that adds a quality dimension to estimates of life expectancy by dividing expected lifespan into time spent in different states of health. Healthy life expectancy (HLE) measures health-related wellbeing and represents the average time an individual is expected to live in "very good" or "good" health, as opposed to "fair", "bad", or "very bad" health, based on how individuals perceive their general health.

Indices of Multiple Deprivation

The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2015 and IMD 2019) for England and Welsh Indices of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD 2014 and WIMD 2019) for Wales are measures of area deprivation based on Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA).

The larger population in England allows using deciles, while the analysis for Wales uses quintiles. The top and bottom population deciles represent the more affluent or more deprived parts of a population, respectively, compared with quintiles. Therefore, and because IMD and WIMD are different measures, estimates in this bulletin cannot be compared across England and Wales. Deprivation scores are based on the area as a whole; not everyone within a Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) necessarily experiences the same level or type of deprivation. For example, some unemployed individuals live in less deprived LSOAs, while some higher-income individuals live in more deprived LSOAs. Similarly, deciles/quintiles are broad groupings; the levels of deprivation, and the underlying factors determining the LSOA-level deprivation score, will vary within it.

Deciles/quintiles are calculated by ranking the LSOAs from most deprived to least deprived and dividing them into ten (England) or five (Wales) equal groups. In England, these range from the most deprived 10% (Decile 1) of small areas nationally, to the least deprived 10% (Decile 10) of small areas nationally. In Wales, these range from the most deprived 20% (Quintile 1) of small areas nationally, to the least deprived 20% (Quintile 5) of small areas nationally.

For more information on the IMD and WIMD, see Section 7: Related links.

Slope index of inequality

Inequality in LE and HLE by deprivation level is estimated using a summary measure called the slope index of inequality (SII). This represents the range in years of life expectancy across the social gradient from most to least deprived; the higher the value of the SII, the greater the inequality within an area.

The SII is calculated as the difference between the extremes of a population-weighted regression line of best fit. As well as weighting by population size, it measures the gaps by taking account of the inequality across all adjacent quantiles of relative deprivation, rather than focusing only on the differencing of the two extremes (as the range does).

This statistical bulletin presents estimates of life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) for England and Wales by national deprivation indices.

Data sources

Life expectancy uses death registrations data held by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. Mid-year population estimates by age, sex and geographical area are used in combination with death registrations to calculate age-specific mortality rates used in life tables.

In addition, health state life expectancies use data collected as part of the Annual Population Survey (APS) (PDF, 858KB). It also uses Census 2011 and Census 2021 to obtain health state prevalence rates. The method requires imputation and modelling because survey data are not routinely collected for those aged under 16 years, and only sparsely for those aged 85 years and over. For this reason, data from Census 2011 and Census 2021 are also used to produce imputation adjustment factors and census-based health state prevalence. These figures are made available with our accompanying datasets.

Deprivation indices for England and for Wales are not yet available using Census 2021 geographies. This analysis, therefore, uses indices based on Census 2011, with some adjustments. For more information, see our Health state life expectancies, UK QMI: 2021 to 2023.

Method for estimating healthy life expectancy

Healthy life expectancy estimates reported in this bulletin are period-based and estimated using a tool known as a Sullivan life table (PDF, 928KB). A Sullivan life table is an extension to the abridged life table, partitioning the years lived in "good" health and "not good" health in grouped ages. Abridged life tables are used in preference to complete life tables for smaller populations because death counts can be too sparse for examining mortality for single years of age.

See our Health state life expectancies, UK QMI: 2021 to 2023 for further details on the:

• data sources
• method for estimating healthy life expectancy
• method for calculating the slope index of inequality

Official statistics in development

The estimates in our current release are official statistics in development. This is because, as explained in this open letter, published on the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) website, the accredited official statistics status of ONS outputs using Annual Population Survey (APS) data has been suspended. This release uses a new methodology to estimate the prevalence of "good" health to reduce the effect of the recent decrease in the APS's sample size. More information can be found in our Estimating good health prevalence for use in healthy life expectancy outputs methodology article.