England’s north-south life expectancy gap grows despite record longevity

The half of England’s population who live in five northern regions have experienced little or no rise in life expectancy. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA View image in fullscreen The half of England’s population who live in five northern regions have experienced little or no rise in life expectancy. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA England’s north-south life expectancy gap grows despite record longevity King’s Fund report finds men and women live, on average, for 80 years and nearly 84 years, but gains are in south 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