Veena Raleigh, Senior Fellow at The King's Fund, commented on the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on life expectancy in the UK
‘The data from the ONS lays bare the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on life expectancy in the UK. It shows that life expectancy at birth fell by about half a year between 2019 and 2022 - from 79.5 to 79 years in males and from 83.2 to 82.8 years in females - slashing life expectancy to the level of a decade ago. [1]
‘Although life expectancy has recovered somewhat since the sharp fall in 2020 when the pandemic began, it's not had the bounce back that might have been expected once the worst of the pandemic was over, pointing to deeper problems with the health of the nation and the resilience of the health care system.
‘Although most countries experienced devastating death tolls from Covid-19, several studies have shown that excess mortality in the UK during the pandemic exceeded that of most comparable western European and other high-income countries. [2]
'As the UK's relatively high mortality during the pandemic came on the heels of stalling life expectancy in the pre-pandemic decade, the result is a further slide in the UK's already poor ranking relative to comparable countries by 2022. [3]
‘Much of the heavy burden of sickness and death in the UK is caused by preventable conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and diabetes. Worryingly, mortality rates from heart disease and diabetes have been rising during the pandemic. This load of preventable sickness and death falls unequally, hitting deprived communities the hardest. But it doesn't have to be this way.
‘Improving life expectancy in the UK will require a coherent cross-government strategy that supports people to make healthy choices, identifies and treats illness earlier, and reduces health inequalities by improving the health of people in deprived communities.'