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THE gap in life expectancy between rich and poor in Britain is widening, according to the government’s own Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.
And the gap between the amount of ill-health the two groups suffer is also widening, he says in his annual report.
Poorer people living in north Cumbria, County Durham and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire had an average age of death of between 74 and 79, compared with southern areas where it was between 81 and 85.
The report also showed that babies were more likely to die at birth in the most deprived areas of Britain and among some ethnic-minority groups.
Prof Whitty described it as “striking” that “extraordinary improvements in life expectancy everywhere stalled relatively recently.”
But he added: “Ill-health and disease concentrating in areas of deprivation is long-standing and needs to be tackled.
“Describing and deploring it is not enough, we need to have actionable plans to improve it."
