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07

Longevity data highlights north-south divide

Open-access content Thursday 25th July 2013 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Life expectancy shows an increasing north-south divide, the Office for National Statistics has said.

In an update to its regional life expectancy data East Dorset was shown as the local authority area with the longest life expectancy for both men and women, at 83 and 86.4 years respectively.

Lowest life expectancies were at Blackpool for men - at 73.8 - and Manchester for women, at 79.3.

Between the surveys conducted in 2005-07 and 2009-11, life expectancy at age 65 across England and Wales increased for both men and for women, from 17.4 years to 18.3 and from 20.1 to 21.0 respectively.

The ONS said the distribution of life expectancy across England was characterised by people in the north generally living shorter lives than those in the south.

It pointed to studies that linked this to occupations and deprivation including that 'death rates for potentially avoidable causes, such as certain cancers, respiratory and heart disease, are significantly higher in northern regions than in the south'.

In 2009-11, approximately 32% of local authority areas in the east, 45% in the southeast and 22% in the southwest were in the top 20% of areas with the highest life expectancy at birth, but no local area in the northeast, northwest or Wales fell into this group.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the figures showed that someone living in Blackpool would qualify for a retirement income 6% higher than someone living in East Dorset, because of the differential in life expectancy affecting annuities.

'These disparities demonstrate why it is so important to shop around for the best possible retirement income,' he said.

'Pension investors should always share as much information as possible with their annuity broker, including postcode and information about state of health, as this will contribute to getting a better level of income.'

This article appeared in our July 2013 issue of The Actuary.
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