England's poorest face 2.3 times the risk of dying before 75, study finds

Adults in England's poorest neighbourhoods die early at more than double the rate of those in the wealthiest ones, according to the Health Foundation. The analysis combined 2021 census demographic data with death records from March 2021 to December 2023, and found both men and women in the most deprived areas carried an early-death risk 2.3 times that of their least deprived counterparts. That works out at 815 premature deaths per 100,000 people, against 353 per 100,000 in the most affluent areas, with premature defined as dying before age 75.

Education and work status split the numbers further. Women with no qualifications had a premature mortality rate 2.5 times higher than women with a degree or above. For men, those who were long-term unemployed or had never worked faced a rate 3.5 times that of men in higher managerial, administrative and professional jobs.

The inequalities cluster geographically. They are most severe in the north-east, north-west and Yorkshire and the Humber, and mildest in London. Among women who have never worked or are long-term unemployed, the north-west recorded 796 deaths per 100,000 people, 72% above London's 462 per 100,000.

Ethnicity produced a more tangled picture. Black Caribbean men had the highest male premature mortality rate at 573 deaths per 100,000, with white British men close behind at 537 and Chinese men lowest at 284. For women, white British (370) and Black Caribbean (367) rates were highest, while Chinese women had the lowest observed rate at 181 per 100,000.

Freya Tracey, principal data analyst at the Health Foundation, said the findings expose how much inequality still shapes life chances. She argued that a cross-government approach is needed to tackle the building blocks of health, including education, employment and local economic conditions, and that devolution must help local areas deliver prevention. Without sustained action, she warned, inequalities will keep cutting lives short.

Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, cautioned that lower premature mortality in some ethnic groups does not mean better health or that racism matters less. He said analysis must look beyond ethnicity to how migration, poverty, employment, housing and discrimination interact. The research also points to falling healthy life expectancy, following earlier findings that the UK's health is poor, worsening and lagging steady gains seen in Japan, Norway and Spain. The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.