Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Expectancy

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to life expectancy and healthy life expectancy including local strategic need and service provision. Further information relating to Causes of Death is given under Population, and further information relating to Stillbirth and Infant Mortality is given under Pregnancy, Infants and Early Years within Children and Young People. Further information on how life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are calculated is given within Life Expectancy within the Glossary.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

The Office for National Statistics ‘back-date’ their recent estimates of the resident population once more accurate Census data becomes available. Their revised estimates were released for each local authority on the 23 November 2023. Prior to this, the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities removed their trend data which relied on resident population estimates from Fingertips (mainly affecting trends in hospital admission rates, life expectancy and mortality rates). Most of the trend data on Fingertips was updated in early February for the back-revised population estimates, but the healthy life expectancy estimates have not yet been updated.

Furthermore, it is not possible to calculate life expectancy at lower geographical levels (for wards and local deprivation fifths/tenths) accurately as the back-revised resident population estimates have not been published by ONS. Population estimates are available for 2021 and 2022, but not for earlier years. So whilst an estimate for the period 2020-22 has been estimated for Hull, it was necessary to estimate the population for 2020. It will not possible to examine trends over time across Hull’s wards or by local deprivation fifth or tenth until ONS publish their population estimates. As at June 2024, there is no confirmed publication date but a provisional date of October to November 2024 has been given by ONS.

Headlines

• Life expectancy at birth does not give the expected duration of life for a newborn; it gives a measure of expected life expectancy if the current age-specific mortality rates are applied throughout an entire lifetime, but of course, these are subject to changes over time. So, life expectancy gives an indication of the current health status of a population, rather than an expected duration of life.
• Life expectancy at birth in Hull in 2020-22 was 75.0 years for men and 79.9 years for women. This compares with 78.9 years for men (a difference of 3.9 years) and 82.8 years for women (a difference of 2.9 years) for England.
• A relatively similar pattern over time occurred for men and women in Hull. Life expectancy at birth increased in Hull between 2001-03 and 2011-14, but then increases stalled, and decreased between 2011-14 and 2017-19 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, life expectancy at birth increased throughout the entire period 2001-03 and 2017-19 across England although the increases were smaller more recently compared to the start of the century.
• Male life expectancy at birth in Hull increased from 73.7 years in 2001-03 to a peak of 76.7 years in 2012-14 but fell to 76.2 years in 2017-19. There was a further decrease of 1.2 years between 2017-19 and 2020-22 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Female life expectancy at birth in Hull increased from 79.4 years in 2001-03 to a peak of 80.7 years in 2011-13 but fell to 80.4 years in 2017-19. There was a further decrease of 0.5 years between 2017-19 and 2020-22 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic with the difference smaller than the decrease observed for males as the mortality rate for COVID-19 was greater for men.
• Life expectancy at birth also decreased for England between 2017-19 and 2020-22 by 0.8 years for men and by 0.5 years for women. However, with the consistent increase in life expectancy in England over time, the inequalities gap has increased. Male life expectancy at birth was 2.9 years higher in England compared to Hull in 2001-03, but it is 3.9 years for 2020-22. The inequalities gap for females over the same time period have increased from 1.3 years to 2.9 years.
• From local calculations, life expectancy at birth for 2020-22 ranged from 69.6 years to 85.2 years for men across Hull’s 21 wards. Life expectancy was lowest in Central ward and highest in Kingswood ward. Among women, life expectancy at birth for 2020-22 ranged from 76.1 years in Marfleet to 86.2 years in Kingswood. A strong trend in life expectancy was evident across the local deprivation fifths. Life expectancy at birth for 2020-22 was 70.5 years for men and 76.5 years for females living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull compared to 80.1 years for men and 84.0 years for women living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull. The local inequalities gap was greater for men compared to women with a difference of 15.6 years across Hull’s wards and 9.6 years across Hull’s deprivation fifths for men and a difference of 10.1 years across Hull’s wards and 7.5 years across Hull’s deprivation fifths for women.
• Prior to the Office for National Statistics back-revising their population estimates, for 2020-21, there were 4.4 year and 3.3 year gaps in life expectancy between Hull and England for men (74.3 versus 78.7 years) and women (79.4 versus 82.7 years). The largest contributions to this gap in life expectancy came from an excess of deaths in Hull for men from circulatory disease (1.10 years), cancer (0.87 years), external causes (0.81 years), COVID-19 (0.53 years) and respiratory disease (0.44 years). For women, cancer (0.90 years), circulatory disease (0.66 years), respiratory disease (0.48), COVID-19 (0.35 years) and digestive disease (0.27 years) contributed to the gap in life expectancy between Hull and England.
• Prior to the Office for National Statistics back-revising their population estimates, for 2020-21, there were 9.2 year and 7.4 year gaps in life expectancy between the most deprived and least deprived fifth of areas in Hull (69.9 versus 79.1 years for men and 76.1 versus 83.6 years for women). The largest contributions to this gap in life expectancy for men came from an excess deaths from circulatory disease (2.42 years), external causes (2.12 years), cancer (1.51 years), respiratory disease (1.01 years) and COVID-19 (0.80 years). For women, the causes that contributed the most to the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived fifth of areas of Hull were cancer (1.56 years), circulatory disease (1.41 years), respiratory disease (1.20 years), mental and behavioural disorders (0.82 years) and external causes (0.70 years).
• Life expectancy at age 65 years and healthy life expectancy (years in ‘good’ health) at birth and at age 65 years are also lower in Hull. People in Hull live more of their lives not in ‘good’ health.
• As well as the national inequalities gap between Hull and England increasing over time, the local inequalities gap between people living in the most and least deprived areas of Hull has also increased over time. The difference in the national and local inequalities gap is larger for men compared to women.
• People in Hull are dying earlier than they should and there are wide inequalities / differences in life expectancy both between Hull and England, and within Hull.
• From the A Matter of Life and Death report, “Social and economic conditions such as poverty, poor-quality housing, low-paid or unstable jobs all impact people’s physical and mental health. These ‘wider determinants of health’ are harming health and cutting lives short.”

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

Life expectancy at birth is used to assess health improvements over time, as well as differences in health between different groups, whether comparing different geographical areas, such as wards or local authorities; comparing between groups defined by deprivation status; or looking at different time periods within the same geographical area.

Life expectancy at birth does not give the expected duration of life for a newborn; it gives a measure of expected life expectancy if the current age-specific mortality rates are applied throughout an entire lifetime, but of course, these are subject to changes over time. So, life expectancy gives an indication of the current health status of a population, rather than an expected duration of life.

It is calculated from the mid-year population estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics, and the number of deaths that were registered in the respective year (not based on the year of the death occurrence). It is generally presented as a rolling average over three years to help reduce the impact on year-on-year variability.

Life expectancy can also be calculated for other ages, for instance, life expectancy at age 65 years is often reported. This will be more of a measure of the expectation of life as it is likely that the age-specific mortality rates over the next 15-20 years will be similar to the current age-specific mortality rates (assuming nothing dramatic happens to the current mortality rates such as a change due to a war, pandemic, miraculous medical intervention, etc).

However, life expectancy does not measure the quality of life. For this reason, Healthy Life Expectancy is calculated, using a statistical model to estimate the length of life expectancy likely to be lived in ‘good health’. This measure is the overarching indicator used within the Public Health Outcomes Framework published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

A related measure is disability adjusted life years (DALYs) which is a measure of overall disease burden, and broadly speaking is defined as the number of years of life lost due to ill health, disability or death. Medical conditions with high DALYs are conditions which impact on quality of life substantially for a long period of time.

Where there is a difference in the life expectancy between two geographical areas, it is also possible to examine the causes of death which contribute to the difference in the gap to assess where there is an excess of deaths for the geographical area with the lower life expectancy. Such analyses using been undertaken within The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool.

The Hull Picture

Life Expectancy at Birth

In Hull, life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 75.0 years for men and 79.9 years for women for 2020-22 which is 3.9 years lower for men and 2.9 years lower for women in Hull compared to England.

Among Hull men, whilst life expectancy had increased between 2001-03 and 2010-12 from 73.7 years to 76.6 years, it remained relatively static between 2010-12 and 2014-16 (ranging from 76.5 to 76.7 years). There was a decrease to 76.2 years between 2014-16 and 2015-17 with life expectancy remaining relatively unchanged until 2017-19.

There was an increase in life expectancy for men in England and across the region for most of the period between 2001-03 and 2017-19 in contrast to Hull.

Since 2017-19, there has been a sharper decline in life expectancy at birth among Hull men part of which is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic (further information on the number of COVID-19 deaths can be found within Causes of Death in Hull under Population). The decrease for the second year to 2019-21 was greater as the three year period included an increased mortality rate for two years rather than one year as was the case for the period 2018-20. However, whilst the mortality rate has further decreased between 2019-21 and 2020-22, the reduction has been smaller (0.2 years).

Since the high of 76.7 years for 2012-14, male life expectancy has decrease by 0.7% to 2017-19 and by 2.2% to 2020-22. Between 2017-19 and 2020-22, life expectancy reduced by 1.2 years for Hull men. The reductions for England and the region (both 0.8 years) were lower.

Over the entire period between 2001-03 and 2020-22, male life expectancy at birth in Hull has increased by 1.3 years representing a 1.8% increase. Life expectancy increased by 2.4 years (3.2%) across the region and by 2.7 years (3.5%) for England. Thus the inequalities gap has increased, and this has particularly been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life expectancy at birth among Hull men in 2020-22 is the same as it was in 2007-09.

Life expectancy at birth among Hull women show a slightly different pattern compared to men particularly in the early part of the century. Life expectancy decreased between 2001-03 to 2002-04 from 79.4 years to 79.1 years, and then remained relatively unchanged until 2005-07 when it increased to 79.4 years in 2006-08. Female life expectancy at birth did then increase in Hull to a high of 80.7 years in 2011-13. The rate then fell to 80.1 years in 2015-17, and whilst there was an increase to 80.4 years in 2016-18, life expectancy remained unchanged until 2018-20 at 80.4 years.

Between 2017-19 and 2020-22, there has been a slight decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic from 80.4 years to 79.9 years. However, as the mortality rate from COVID-19 was higher among men, life expectancy was less affected by the pandemic (further information on the number of COVID-19 deaths can be found within Causes of Death in Hull under Population).

Over the entire period between 2001-03 and 2020-22, female life expectancy at birth in Hull has increased by 0.5 years representing a 0.6% increase. Life expectancy increased by 1.6 years (2.0%) across the region and by 2.1 years (2.6%) for England. Thus the inequalities gap has increased.

Life expectancy at birth among Hull women in 2020-22 is the same as it was in 2007-09.

Causes of Death with Excess Deaths in Hull Contributing to the Gap in Life Expectancy

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities have produced a Life Expectancy Segment Tool, which examines the gap or difference in life expectancy and assesses the excess deaths that contributed to the difference in relation to different causes of death. The latest version uses mortality data for the two years 2020-21 and is based on the original population estimates. As a result, there will be changes to the gap and the contributions by cause once Segment Tool is updated.

Gap in Life Expectancy Between Hull and England

Circulatory disease and cancer were the causes of death which had the highest excess deaths in Hull contributing to the gap in life expectancy between Hull and England for 2020-21. If the age-specific mortality rates from circulatory disease were the same in Hull as they were for England, then life expectancy would be 1.10 years higher for men and 0.66 years higher for women in Hull, and if age-specific mortality rates for cancer in Hull were the same as for England, then life expectancy in Hull would increase by 0.87 years for men and 0.90 years for women.

The gap in life expectancy between Hull and England for 2020-21 was 4.4 years for men (life expectancy 74.3 years in Hull compared to 78.7 years in England) and 3.3 years for women (life expectancy 79.4 years in Hull compared to 82.7 years in England). Thus circulatory disease accounts for 20% of the life expectancy gap for men and 25% of the gap for women, and cancer accounts for 20% of the gap for men and 28% of the gap for women.

Gap in Life Expectancy Between Most and Least Deprived Areas of Hull

The Segment Tool also examines the gap in life expectancy between the most deprived fifth of areas and the least deprived fifth of areas within each local authority.

In Hull for 2020-21, they estimate that life expectancy at birth is 69.9 years for men living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull compared to 79.1 years for men living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull giving a gap of 9.2 years. For women, their life expectancy at birth estimates are 76.1 and 83.6 years for the most and least deprived fifth of areas respectively giving a gap of 7.4 years.

Among men, circulatory disease contributes 2.42 years to this life expectancy gap, external causes 2.12 years and cancer 1.51 years. Among women, the causes with the greatest excess deaths contributing to the local life expectancy gap are for cancer (1.56 years), circulatory disease (1.41 years) and respiratory disease (1.20 years).

In total, excess deaths due to circulatory disease and external causes contribute to almost half of the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas of Hull among men (26% and 23% respectively). Among women, cancer (21%), circulatory disease (19%) and respiratory disease (16%) contribute to just over half of this local gap in life expectancy.

Life Expectancy at Birth Among Local Deprivation Groups

Life expectancy at birth differs among the local deprivation tenths defined on the basis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary).

The following charts show the life expectancy at birth for men for each of the deprivation tenth areas of Hull ranging from the most deprived tenth of areas of Hull to the least deprived tenth of areas of Hull. Where confidence intervals are below the Hull average these are coloured red and are statistically statistically lower than the Hull average. Where confidence intervals include the Hull average these are coloured amber and are statistically similar to the Hull average. Where confidence intervals are above the Hull average these are coloured green and are statistically higher than the Hull average.

There was a clear and strong association between life expectancy at birth and deprivation in Hull among men.

Life expectancy at birth was also calculated for men across the local deprivation fifths.

Overall, life expectancy was higher among women compared to men, but the same patterns occurred across the local deprivation tenths.

Again, a similar pattern in life expectancy at birth across Hull’s local deprivation fifths occurred for women.

Life Expectancy at Birth Among Hull’s Wards

There are considerable differences in life expectancy across Hull’s 21 wards with a gap between the wards with the highest and lowest average life expectancies at birth of 15.6 years for men and 10.1 years for women in Hull. When linked to ward rankings based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 these inequalities tend to follow a trend of wards with the lowest deprivation ranking having some of the highest average life expectancies and wards with the highest deprivation ranking having some of the lowest life expectancies (although there were some exceptions to this trend).

Life expectancy at birth was 1.9 years lower among men and 1.4 years lower among women for every 10 unit increase in the ward deprivation score.

The following charts show the life expectancy at birth for each of Hull’s electoral wards. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary). If the confidence interval is wide then there is a high degree of uncertainty around the parameter of interest, and caution should be used when interpreting the findings. This often occurs when the estimate is based on a small number of events. Estimates for Kingswood have a relatively large confidence interval due to the small number of deaths in this ward. Where confidence intervals are below the Hull average these are statistically lower than the Hull average and where confidence intervals are above the Hull average these are statistically higher than the Hull average. Confidence intervals that straddle the Hull average are statistically similar to the Hull average.

Men living in Kingswood (85.2 years), Holderness (79.5), Derringham (79.2), West Carr (78.0), Bricknell (77.9) and Boothferry (77.3) have significantly higher life expectancy compared to the Hull average.

Men living in Central (69.6), St Andrew’s & Docklands (70.0), Marfleet (71.8) and Newington & Gipsyville (72.4) have significantly lower life expectancy compared to the Hull average.

Among men, there was a inequalities gap of 15.6 years between the ward with the highest life expectancy and the lowest life expectancy, although if Kingswood (whose life expectancy is more uncertain due to the small number of deaths) is excluded the gap is smaller at 9.9 years.

Life expectancy at birth is reasonably similar across Hull’s Area Committee Areas as each area includes wards with both high and low life expectancies which average to around the Hull average, although male life expectancy is significantly lower than the Hull average in West Area Committee Area. Male life expectancy at birth is 75.5 years for men living in North Area Committee Area, 75.1 years for men living in East Area Committee Area and 74.1 years for men living in West Area Committee Area.

Women living in Kingswood (86.2 years), University (84.3), Boothferry (83.5), Drypool (83.2) and West Carr (82.3) have significantly higher life expectancy compared to the Hull average.

Women living in Marfleet (76.1), Newington & Gipsyville (76.5), Central (76.7), St Andrew’s & Docklands (77.2), North Carr (77.2) and Orchard Park (77.8) have significantly lower life expectancy compared to the Hull average.

Among women, there was a inequalities gap of 10.1 years between the ward with the highest life expectancy and the lowest life expectancy, although if Kingswood (whose life expectancy is more uncertain due to the small number of deaths) is excluded the gap is smaller at 8.2 years.

Female life expectancy at birth also is similar across Hull’s three Area Committee Areas. Female life expectancy at birth is 80.2 years for women living in North Area Committee Area, 79.6 years for women living in East Area Committee Area and 79.5 years for women living in West Area Committee Area.

Healthy Life Expectancy At Birth

Healthy life expectancy is a measure of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health based on contemporary mortality rates and prevalence of self-reported good health. Healthy life expectancy is lower in Hull compared to England, and furthermore, when comparing life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, people in Hull live a shorter time in good health.

These estimates have not been updated yet for the back-revised population estimates and they may increase following this adjustment.

Based on these figures though, healthy life expectancy at birth is 53.8 years for men and 57.9 years for women in Hull compared to 63.1 years for men and 63.9 years for women in England for 2018-20.

Examining trends over time show that healthy life expectancy at birth in Hull among men decreased between 2009-11 and 2012-14, and remained relatively static until 2017-19 with a decrease in 2018-20 likely associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy life expectancy at birth among men in Hull has decreased by 4.2 years from its peak in 2010-12, and it is the lowest it has been since at least 2009-11.

In England, healthy life expectancy increased between 2009-11 and 2012-14, remained the same until 2016-18 and had then decreased which has resulted in a healthy life expectancy in 2018-20 of 63.1 years which is similar to healthy life expectancy in 2009-11 at 63.0 years.

The change over time among Hull women in healthy life expectancy at birth differs slightly from Hull men. There was a reduction between 2009-11 and 2012-14, but between 2012-14 and 2016-18, health life expectancy increased slightly with a larger increase between 2016-18 and 2017-19. Healthy life expectancy at birth among Hull women did decrease between 2017-19 and 2018-20 which may be associated with the pandemic, but the reduction was not as great as it was for males. Furthermore, healthy life expectancy among Hull women in 2018-20 is the second highest over the entire period 2009-11 to 2018-20 with 2017-19 having the highest healthy life expectancy.

Across England, there have been slight year-on-year differences in healthy life expectancy at birth with the healthy life expectancy in 2018-20 at 63.9 years similar to healthy life expectancy in 2009-11 at 64.0 years.

It is possible to examine the life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, to estimate the number of years a person will live in ‘not good’ health. However, the life expectancy estimates have been updated for the back-revised population estimates, but the healthy life expectancies have not. The latter will be higher once they are updated. However, it is possible to compare both prior to the adjustment for the back-revised populations.

For 2018-20, male healthy life expectancy was 53.8 years and life expectancy at birth was 75.6 years (prior to the use of the back-revised populations), so it is estimated that men spend 21.8 years of their life not in ‘good’ health which represents 28.8% of their lives (16.3 years for England representing 20.5%). For women, healthy life expectancy was 57.9 years and life expectancy at birth was 80.0 years (prior to use of back-revised populations), so it is estimated that women spend 22.1 years of their life not in ‘good’ health representing 27.6% of their lives (19.2 years for England representing 23.1%).

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years

Life expectancy estimates are also available at age 65 years. Contemporary mortality rates will be more comparable to the actual mortality rates in future over the next 15-20 years, so life expectancy at age 65 years will be a more accurate estimate of the additional life expectancy or duration of life among those currently aged 65 years.

For 2020-22, life expectancy at age 65 years is 16.4 years for men and 18.8 years for females in Hull, which is lower than England by 2.0 years for men and by 2.1 years for women.

Between 2001-03 and 2010-12, male life expectancy at age 65 years in Hull showed a steady increase from 15.2 to 16.8 years, but has been relatively static since then decreasing slightly to around 16.6 years in 2017-19. There has been a further decrease to 16.2 years between 2017-19 and 2019-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although life expectancy at age 65 years among Hull men did increase to 16.4 years between 2019-21 and 2020-22.

In contrast, male life expectancy at age 65 years increased for both England and across the region between 2001-03 and 2017-19 albeit with a slightly smaller increase in recent years. Life expectancy also fell in England between 2017-19 and 2020-22 due the pandemic including in the last year between 2019-21 to 2020-22. Thus the inequalities gap between Hull and England has increased over time. There was a difference in male life expectancy at age 65 years between Hull and England of 1.1 years in 2001-03 but the difference is 2.0 years in 2020-22. Over the entire period 2001-03 to 2020-22, the increase has been 1.2 years or 7.9% for Hull compared to 2.1 years or 12.9% for England.

A similar pattern has occurred for Hull women as observed for men, although the changes – both the increase a decade ago and the decreases more recently – have been smaller. Furthermore, the increase from 2001-03 was a shorter duration prior to levelling off.

For Hull women, life expectancy at age 65 years increased from 18.1 years in 2001-03 to a high of 19.3 years for the period 2009-11 to 2011-13, before decreasing gradually to 19.0 years for 2017-19. Life expectancy remained at 19.0 years for both 2018-20 and 2019-21, but fell to 18.8 years for the most recent period 2020-22. So between 2017-19 prior to the pandemic and 2020-22, there has been a decrease of a similar magnitude as men (0.2 years), but the rates in 2018-20 and 2019-21 appear not to have been affected by the pandemic. The decrease in the latest year could be due to the pandemic as the mortality rates were higher in 2020 and 2021, but the pattern in life expectancy is also not inconsistent with recent trends without the effect of the pandemic.

In contrast, female life expectancy at age 65 years increased for both England and across the region between 2001-03 and 2017-19 albeit with a slightly smaller increase in recent years. Life expectancy also fell in England between 2017-19 and 2020-22 due the pandemic including in the last year between 2019-21 to 2020-22. Thus the inequalities gap between Hull and England has increased over time. There was a difference in female life expectancy at age 65 years between Hull and England of 1.1 years in 2001-03 but the difference is 2.1 years in 2020-22. Over the entire period 2001-03 to 2020-22, the increase has been 0.7 years or 3.9% for Hull compared to 1.7 years or 8.9% for England.

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years Among Local Deprivation Groups

Life expectancy at age 65 differs among the local deprivation fifths defined on the basis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary).

There is considerable difference in male life expectancy at age 65 years among the local deprivation fifths. The differences are statistically significant.

Life expectancy at age 65 years for 2020-22 is 19.1 years among men living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull compared to 13.6 years among men living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull. This represents a difference of 5.5 years with the life expectancy 40% higher among men living in the least deprived areas of Hull.

Life expectancy at age 65 years for 2020-22 is 21.7 years among women living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull compared to 16.4 years among women living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull. This represents a difference of 5.3 years with the life expectancy 32% higher among women living in the least deprived areas of Hull.

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years Among Hull’s Wards

In order for the life expectancy calculations to be statistically valid, the total population needs to be 5,000 or more. All the wards in Hull have a total population less than 5,000 among those aged 65+ years so it is not valid to calculate life expectancy at age 65 years across Hull’s wards.

Where this situation does occur, the normal solution is to calculate life expectancy for a longer period of time so that the total population is larger. As the back-revised population estimates have not yet been published by the Office for National Statistics at ward level, it is not possible to calculate life expectancy at age 65 years across Hull’s wards for a longer period (say deaths registered over a five year period between 2018 to 2022) as reliable population estimates at ward level do not exist.

However, as mentioned above, life expectancy at birth does vary dramatically across the wards, and in previous analyses, life expectancy at age 65 years has also been shown to differ across Hull’s wards.

Healthy Life Expectancy At Age 65 Years

Again, these estimates use the original mid-year population estimates so will be revised on Fingertips in due course.

Based on these figures though, for 2018-20, healthy life expectancy at age 65 years is 7.2 years for men and 9.0 years for women in Hull which are 3.3 years and 2.3 years lower than men and women in England.

Among men, there has been some variability over time in healthy life expectancy at age 65 years with health life expectancy remaining relatively static over the entire period 2009-11 to 2018-20. It was highest in 2016-18 at 8.4 years but has decreased the last two years to 7.2 years in 2018-20. In contrast, there were increases in England to 2017-19 with a small decrease between 2017-19 and 2018-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For women, there have been some improvements in healthy life expectancy at age 65 years in Hull recently with a decrease in the last year due to the pandemic.

For 2018-20, male healthy life expectancy at age 65 years was 7.2 years and life expectancy at age 65 years was 16.2 years (prior to the use of the back-revised populations), so it is estimated that men spend 9.0 years of their life not in ‘good’ health which represents 55.6% of their remaining lives (10.5 and 16.3 years for England giving 5.8 years or 35.6% of their remaining lives not in ‘good’ health).

For women, healthy life expectancy at age 65 years was 9.0 years and life expectancy at age 65 years was 18.8 years (prior to use of back-revised populations), so it is estimated that women spend 9.8 years of their life not in ‘good’ health representing 52.1% of their remaining lives (11.3 and 19.2 years for England giving 7.9 years or 41.1% of their remaining lives not in ‘good’ health).

Disability Adjusted Life Years

Nationally, lower back and neck pain, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, sense organ diseases, depressive disorders, falls and skin diseases are the top 10 causes of disability, that is they are responsible for the highest number of disability adjusted life years (DALYs).

Strategic Need and Service Provision

Whilst increasing life expectancy is important, this needs to be achieved in conjunction with improvements in the quality of life. This is particularly so with an ageing population and the consequent increased demand on scarce health and social care resources.

Resources

L’Hôte E, Castellina M, Volmert A, Conklin L, and O’Shea P. A Matter of Life and Death: Explaining the Wider Determinants of Health in the UK. FrameWorks, 2022. Commissioned by The Health Foundation. https://www.health.org.uk/publications/a-matter-of-life-or-death

Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool. https://analytics.phe.gov.uk/apps/segment-tool/

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 18 June 2024.

This page is due to be updated / checked in November 2024.