POOR people in their 50s have worse health than people born a century ago, research by University College London (UCL) revealed yesterday.

The health gap between the least and most well-off in Britain is widening and may increase pressure on care services for vulnerable older people in the future, the study found.

More than 200,000 working-age people were asked if they had a limiting long-term illness and to rate their health as part of the General Household Survey for 1979-2011.

The responses formed nationally representative health snapshots of generations born between 1920-22 and 1968-70.

Inequalities in the prevalence of long-term conditions have doubled among women and increased by 1.5 times among men, the study found.

The author, Dr Stephen Jivraj, said: “The poorest among these later-born cohorts are likely to require more healthcare sooner in life. In the absence of policy interventions, there is likely to be a growing inequality by income in premature mortality.”

Another explanation could be that people born later have greater expectations of their health, and may be more likely to self-define as having poorer health.

The paper was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.