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Bulging waistlines in England have caused the country’s life expectancy to plunge in the European rankings, concerning research suggested today.
After decades of progress, attempts to keep people living longer are beginning to fail, with people in England now living roughly nine months less than they did in 2011.
And low levels of exercise and poor diets are all partly to blame, the damning report claimed.
Improvements in life expectancy across Europe ‘slowed and in most cases decreased’ by 2021, putting England 19th out of 20 comparable countries.
Assessing life expectancy in physical years, the data also showed England ranked 14th out of the 20 nations, at 81.69 years.
Italy came in first at 83.37 years, followed by Iceland (83.31 years). By comparison, Scotland was last at 79.48 years.
According to study, led by experts from the University of East Anglia (UEA), the countries which ‘best maintained’ improvements in life expectancy also had fewer heart disease and cancer deaths.
Writing in the prestigious journal, Lancet Public Health, they urged the UK government to take firm action to reverse the trend but warned there was ‘no quick fix’.
It comes as separate data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week suggested that a baby boy born in the UK in 2023 could expect to live on average to 86.7 years.
Girls still have a longer anticipated lifespan of 90 years, although the gap has been narrowing.
The ONS also produced an online gadget that estimates how long you have left based on your current age and gender.
In the fresh study, researchers assessed life expectancy advances across 20 European nations from 1990 to 2021.
These included England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland and Ireland.
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden made up the final seven nations.
All countries showed annual improvements in life expectancy from 1990 to 2011, with an overall increase of an average of 0.23 years.
The rate of improvement was lower in 2011–19 than in 1990–2011 in all countries except for Norway.
From 1990 to 2011, life expectancy in England rose by an average of 0.25 years — roughly 3 months.
This slowed to an average increase of 0.07 years between 2011 to 2019 — roughly just over one month.
It meant the country experienced the largest decline in life expectancy improvement of all 20 countries during this period, at -0.18 years or roughly two fewer months.
But between 2019 to 2021 — the first two years of the Covid pandemic — most of the 20 nations saw a fall in their life expectancy except for Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
Comparing the difference in expectancy between 2011-2019 with 2019-2021, England ranked in 19th place recording an improvement of -0.67 years or roughly nine fewer months.
Greece ranked in 20th place with an improvement of -0.71 years, roughly just over nine fewer months.
Scotland, meanwhile recorded a figure of -0.56 years, just over half a year less, while Wales and Northern Ireland logged -0.42 and -0.46 years respectively — roughly five months fewer.
Professor Nick Steel, an expert in public health at UEA and the study’s lead researcher, said: ‘Advances in public health and medicine in the 20th century meant that life expectancy in Europe improved year after year, but this is no longer the case.
At the age of 115, Ethel Caterham, from Surrey, is the oldest living person in the UK following the death of 112-year-old Mollie Walker on 22 January 2022
‘Unsurprisingly, the Covid pandemic was responsible for decreases in life expectancy seen between 2019–21.
‘England and the other UK nations fared worst after 2011 and also during the Covid pandemic, and experienced some of the highest risks for heart disease and cancer, including poor diets.’
He added: ‘We have high dietary risks in England and high levels of physical inactivity and high obesity levels.
‘These trends are decades long — there isn’t a quick fix.
‘And I guess the message to the current Government is, “Great that one of your big three shifts for the NHS is to move to prevention”, but it needs to be more than easy access to scanners and a well man check or well woman check with your already overloaded GP.
‘This is about the big, long-term population protections from risk – so engaging with the food industry to improve our national diet to make it easier for people to eat healthier food and make it easier for people to move a little bit in our day-to-day lives.’
It comes as figures released by the ONS last week suggested that a baby boy born in 2023 could expect to live on average to 86.7 years.
Girls still have a longer anticipated lifespan of 90 years, although the gap has been narrowing.
Among the 2023 cohort, 11.5 per cent of boys and 17.9 per cent of girls are seen as likely to live to see 100.
That is set to increase to 17.3 per cent and 24.7 per cent by 2047.
But the previous 2020-based projections estimated a 21.5 per cent and 27.7 per cent of those born in 2047 becoming a centenarian.
