Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Expectancy

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to life expectancy and healthy life expectancy including local strategic need and service provision. Further information relating to Causes of Death is given under Population, and further information relating to Stillbirth and Infant Mortality is given under Pregnancy, Infants and Early Years within Children and Young People. Further information on how life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are calculated is given within Life Expectancy within the Glossary.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• Life expectancy at birth in Hull in 2018-20 was 75.6 years for men and 80.0 years for women. Locally calculated life expectancy figures for Hull for 2019-21 show a fall in life expectancy at birth to 74.7 years for men and to 79.7 years for women (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
• Life expectancy is low in Hull, and is 3.8 years lower among men and 3.1 years lower among women compared to England for 2018-20 (life expectancy is 79.4 and 83.1 years for men and women in England respectively).
• Among men, life expectancy in Hull has increased since 2001-03 from 73.7 years, but has remained relatively static since 2010-12. Among women, a smaller increase since 2001-03 has been observed (from 79.4 years), but life expectancy has been relatively static since 2007-09. The inequalities gap between Hull and England has been increasing over the last decade or so.
• Healthy life expectancy in Hull in 2018-20 is 53.8 years for men (63.1 years for England) and 57.9 years for women (63.9 years for England). It is estimated that, on average, men and women in Hull spend around 28% of their lives not in ‘good’ health.
• At the age of 65 years, men in Hull can expect to live for a further 16.2 years on average (7.2 years in ‘good’ health), while women can expect an average of 18.8 more years of life (9.0 years in ‘good’ health). In England, life expectancy at age 65 years is 18.7 years for men (10.5 in ‘good’ health) and 21.1 years for women (11.3 in ‘good’ health). Locally calculated life expectancy figures for Hull for 2019-21 show a fall in life expectancy at age 65 years to 16.0 years for men and to 18.7 years for women.
• There are considerable differences in life expectancy across Hull’s 21 wards with a gap between the wards with the highest and lowest average life expectancies at birth of 9.8 years for men (St Andrew’s & Docklands 70.1 years versus Boothferry 79.9 years) and at least 7.5 years for women (Kingswood has the highest life expectancy but estimates are unreliable; St Andrew’s & Docklands 76.2 years versus Holderness 83.7 years). The gap between the wards with the highest and lowest average life expectancies at age 65 is 7.0 years for men (St Andrew’s & Docklands 13.5 years versus Boothferry 18.8 years) and at least 5.3 years for women (Kingswood has the highest life expectancy but estimates are unreliable; St Andrew’s & Docklands 16.3 years versus both Boothferry and Holderness 21.6 years)
• COVID-19 will and has had an impact on life expectancy. However, the fall in life expectancy between 2017-19 and 2018-20 has been lower in Hull compared to England. However, from locally calculated figures life expectancy decreased between 2018-20 and 2019-21. The decrease over the last two years – from 2017-19 to 2019-21 – has been 1.1 years for men and 0.4 years for women living in Hull.
• For 2020-21, there were 4.4 year and 3.3 year gaps in life expectancy between Hull and England for men (74.3 versus 78.7 years) and women (79.4 versus 82.7 years). The largest contributions to this gap in life expectancy came from an excess of deaths in Hull for men from circulatory disease (1.10 years), cancer (0.87 years), external causes (0.81 years), COVID-19 (0.53 years) and respiratory disease (0.44 years). For women, cancer (0.90 years), circulatory disease (0.66 years), respiratory disease (0.48), COVID-19 (0.35 years) and digestive disease (0.27 years) contributed to the gap in life expectancy between Hull and England.
• For 2020-21, there were 9.2 year and 7.4 year gaps in life expectancy between the most deprived and least deprived fifth of areas in Hull (69.9 versus 79.1 years for men and 76.1 versus 83.6 years for women). The largest contributions to this gap in life expectancy for men came from an excess deaths from circulatory disease (2.42 years), external causes (2.12 years), cancer (1.51 years), respiratory disease (1.01 years) and COVID-19 (0.80 years). For women, the causes that contributed the most to the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived fifth of areas of Hull were cancer (1.56 years), circulatory disease (1.41 years), respiratory disease (1.20 years), mental and behavioural disorders (0.82 years) and external causes (0.70 years).
• Trends for life expectancy have been decreasing on the whole across all deprivation fifth areas of Hull since around 2011-13, with a sharper decrease seen in the last two years as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have become more evident.
• For 2017-21, there were gaps of 11.6 years for men and 10.9 years for women in life expectancy at birth between the most deprived and least deprived tenth of areas in Hull (69.7 versus 81.3 years for men and 75.5 versus 86.4 years for women). For life expectancy at 65 there were gaps of 6.2 years for men and 8.0 years for women between the most deprived and least deprived tenth of areas in Hull.
• As well as the national inequalities gap between Hull and England increasing over time, the local inequalities gap between people living in the most and least deprived areas of Hull has also increased over time. The increase in the national and local inequalities gap has been larger for women compared to men.
• People in Hull are dying earlier than they should and there are wide inequalities / differences in life expectancy both between Hull and England, and within Hull.
• From the A Matter of Life and Death report, “Social and economic conditions such as poverty, poor-quality housing, low-paid or unstable jobs all impact people’s physical and mental health. These ‘wider determinants of health’ are harming health and cutting lives short.”

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

Life expectancy at birth is used to assess health improvements over time, as well as differences in health between different groups, whether comparing different geographical areas, such as wards or local authorities; comparing between groups defined by deprivation status; or looking at different time periods within the same geographical area.

Life expectancy at birth does not give the expected duration of life for a newborn; it gives a measure of expected life expectancy if the current age-specific mortality rates are applied throughout an entire lifetime, but of course, these are subject to changes over time. So, life expectancy gives an indication of the current health status of a population, rather than an expected duration of life.

Life expectancy can also be calculated for other ages, for instance, life expectancy at age 65 years is often reported. This will be more of a measure of the expectation of life as it is likely that the age-specific mortality rates over the next 15-20 years will be similar to the current age-specific mortality rates (assuming nothing dramatic happens to the current mortality rates such as a change due to a war, pandemic, miraculous medical intervention, etc).

However, life expectancy does not measure the quality of life. For this reason, Healthy Life Expectancy is calculated, using a statistical model to estimate the length of life expectancy likely to be lived in ‘good health’. This measure is the overarching indicator used within the Public Health Outcomes Framework published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

A related measure is disability adjusted life years (DALYs) which is a measure of overall disease burden, and broadly speaking is defined as the number of years of life lost due to ill health, disability or death. Medical conditions with high DALYs are conditions which impact on quality of life substantially for a long period of time.

Where there is a difference in the life expectancy between two geographical areas, it is also possible to examine the causes of death which contribute to the difference in the gap to assess where there is an excess of deaths for the geographical area with the lower life expectancy. Such analyses using been undertaken within The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool.

The Hull Picture

Life Expectancy at Birth

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Fingertips provides estimates of life expectancy at birth for Hull which is lower than England.

It is possible to calculate life expectancy at birth using local mortality data and the Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates for Hull. For 2019-21, life expectancy at birth decreased to 74.7 years for men and to 79.7 years for women. This means that life expectancy at birth has decreased by 0.9 years for men and by 0.3 years for women in the last year, and by 1.1 years for men and 0.4 years over the last two years with an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic evident particularly among men who had a higher mortality rate from COVID-19. Further information on the number of deaths and the causes of death, including deaths from COVID-19 can be found within Causes of Death in Hull under Population.

Male life expectancy increased in Hull between 2001-03 and 2010-12, but has remained relatively unchanged since then albeit decreasing slightly from the high in 2012-14. This is not unique to Hull and many other places across the country, particularly in deprived areas, have had little or no increase, or in some cases a decrease in life expectancy.

In contrast, life expectancy in England has continued to increase throughout the entire period 2001-03 to 2017-19 albeit at a slower rate of increase in recent years.

Life expectancy decreased between 2017-19 and 2018-20 for Hull with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the decrease in Hull was not as high as England (-0.2 years versus -0.4 years). However, from locally calculated life expectancy, the reductions have continued for men with a substantial reduction of 0.9 years to 74.7 years in Hull for 2019-21, although no comparison with England is available so it is not possible to determine if the overall decrease during the last two years with the COVID-19 pandemic is higher in Hull.

Life expectancy among women in Hull has shown a similar pattern to that for men, although the increases between 2001-03 and 2011-13 were not as high as that for men.

Similar to men, life expectancy decreased between 2017-19 and 2018-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the decrease in Hull was less than England (-0.1 years versus -0.3 years). From locally calculated life expectancy, the reductions have continued for women with a reduction of 0.3 years to 79.7 years in Hull for 2019-21. The reduction in life expectancy among Hull residents between 2018-20 and 2019-21 for women is less than that for men, and no comparison is available for England so the overall impact on the inequalities gap is unknown.

Causes of Death with Excess Deaths in Hull Contributing to the Gap in Life Expectancy

Gap in Life Expectancy Between Hull and England

Using The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool, circulatory disease and cancer were the causes of death which had the highest excess deaths in Hull contributing to the gap in life expectancy between Hull and England for 2020-21. If the age-specific mortality rates from circulatory disease were the same in Hull as they were for England, then life expectancy would be 1.10 years higher for men and 0.66 years higher for women in Hull, and if age-specific mortality rates for cancer in Hull were the same as for England, then life expectancy in Hull would increase by 0.87 years for men and 0.90 years for women.

The gap in life expectancy between Hull and England for 2020-21 was 4.4 years for men (life expectancy 74.3 years in Hull compared to 78.7 years in England) and 3.3 years for women (life expectancy 79.4 years in Hull compared to 82.7 years in England). Thus circulatory disease accounts for 20% of the life expectancy gap for men and 25% of the gap for women, and cancer accounts for 20% of the gap for men and 28% of the gap for women.

Gap in Life Expectancy Between Most and Least Deprived Areas of Hull

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool also examines the gap in life expectancy between the most deprived fifth of areas and the least deprived fifth of areas within each local authority.

In Hull for 2020-21, they estimate that life expectancy at birth is 69.9 years for men living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull compared to 79.1 years for men living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull giving a gap of 9.2 years. For women, their life expectancy at birth estimates are 76.1 and 83.6 years for the most and least deprived fifth of areas respectively giving a gap of 7.4 years.

Among men, circulatory disease contributes 2.42 years to this life expectancy gap, external causes 2.12 years and cancer 1.51 years. Among women, the causes with the greatest excess deaths contributing to the local life expectancy gap are for cancer (1.56 years), circulatory disease (1.41 years) and respiratory disease (1.20 years).

In total, excess deaths due to circulatory disease and external causes contribute to almost half of the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas of Hull among men (26% and 23% respectively). Among women, cancer (21%), circulatory disease (19%) and respiratory disease (16%) contribute to just over half of this local gap in life expectancy.

Life Expectancy at Birth Among Local Deprivation Groups

Life expectancy at birth differs among the local deprivation tenths defined on the basis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary).

The following charts show the life expectancy at birth for each of the deprivation tenth areas of Hull ranging from the most deprived tenth of areas of Hull to the least deprived tenth of areas of Hull. Where confidence intervals are below the Hull average these are coloured red and are statistically statistically lower than the Hull average. Where confidence intervals include the Hull average these are coloured amber and are statistically similar to the Hull average. Where confidence intervals are above the Hull average these are coloured green and are statistically higher than the Hull average.

There was a clear and strong association between life expectancy at birth and deprivation in Hull.

In 2017-21, for male life expectancy at birth the fourth least, third least, second least and least deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically higher than the Hull average of 75.2 years. The fourth most, third most, second most and most deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically lower than the Hull average. There was an 11.6 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived tenth areas of Hull (69.7 years in the most deprived compared with 81.3 in the least deprived).

In 2017-21, for female life expectancy at birth the third least, second least and least deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically higher than the Hull average of 79.5 years. The fourth most, third most, second most and most deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically lower than the Hull average. There was an 10.9 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived tenth areas of Hull (75.5 years in the most deprived compared with 86.4 in the least deprived).

Trends for life expectancy at birth have been decreasing on the whole across all deprivation fifth areas of Hull since around 2011-13, with a sharper decrease seen in the last two years as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have become more evident. In 2019-21, for men there was a 8.8 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived fifth areas of Hull (70.6 years in the most deprived compared with 79.4 in the least deprived). This gap has widened slightly since 2002-04 by 0.2 years (from 8.6 years).

For women there was a 7.6 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived fifth areas of Hull (76.3 years in the most deprived compared with 83.9 in the least deprived). This gap has widened significantly since 2002-04 by 4.2 years (from 3.4 years).

Life Expectancy at Birth Among Hull’s Wards

There are considerable differences in life expectancy across Hull’s 21 wards with a gap between the wards with the highest and lowest average life expectancies at birth of 9.8 years for men and 7.5 years for women (excluding Kingswood). When linked to ward rankings based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 these inequalities tend to follow a trend of wards with the lowest deprivation ranking having some of the highest average life expectancies and wards with the highest deprivation ranking having some of the lowest life expectancies (although there were some notable exceptions to this trend). In 2017-21, for both men and women the least deprived ward, Kingswood, had the highest life expectancies across all Hull wards whereas the most deprived ward, St Andrew’s & Docklands, has the lowest life expectancies. However, the life expectancy for Kingswood women is not included in the following chart because the number of deaths are small and the population estimates are potentially unreliable which results in a high degree of uncertainty around the life expectancy figures for women living in Kingswood.

The following charts show the life expectancy at birth for each of Hull’s electoral wards. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary). If the confidence interval is wide then there is a high degree of uncertainty around the parameter of interest, and caution should be used when interpreting the findings. This often occurs when the estimate is based on a small number of events. Where confidence intervals are below the Hull average these are statistically lower than the Hull average and where confidence intervals are above the Hull average these are statistically higher than the Hull average. Confidence intervals that straddle the Hull average are statistically similar to the Hull average.

The confidence intervals are relatively wide for Kingswood for men and extremely wide for women as this ward has a relatively few older people living in the ward and a small number of deaths. It is also possible that the population is underestimated for this ward by the Office for National Statistics due to new housing development over the last decade or so. The life expectancy figure for women living in Kingswood has not been presented for these reasons as the estimate is unreliable.

In 2017-21, for male life expectancy at birth five of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically lower than the Hull average of 75.2 years. They were Marfleet (73.2), Orchard Park (73.0), Newington & Gipsyville (72.8), Central (72.0) and St Andrew’s & Docklands (70.1). Six of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically higher than the Hull average. They were West Carr (76.9), Bricknell (77.8), Beverley & Newland (78.0), Derringham (78.1), Holderness (79.1) and Boothferry (79.9).

There was a inequalities gap of 9.8 years between the ward with the highest life expectancy (Boothferry at 79.9 years) and the lowest life expectancy (St Andrew’s & Docklands at 70.1 years).

In 2017-21, for female life expectancy at birth six of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically lower than the Hull average of 79.8 years. They were Orchard Park (78.2), North Carr (78.1), Marfleet (77.9), Longhill & Bilton Grange (77.8), Newington & Gipsyville (76.3), and St Andrew’s & Docklands (76.2). Five of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically higher than the Hull average. They were West Carr (81.8), Beverley & Newland (82.9), University (83.2), Boothferry (83.5) and Holderness (83.7). Kingswood had the highest life expectancy but there was no statistically significant difference between its life expectancy and the Hull average due to the very wide confidence intervals for the ward (which ranged from 74 to 123 years). Excluding Kingswood, between the ward with the highest life expectancy (Holderness at 83.7 years) and the ward with the lowest life expectancy (St Andrew’s & Docklands at 76.2 years), there was a gap of 7.5 years in life expectancy.

Male life expectancy is lowest in the wards to the east of the city, in the south west of the city from Newington & Gipsyville to Central ward and in Orchard Park to the north west. The highest male life expectancy occurs from north to south through central Hull, and in the wards in the west.

A similar pattern occurs for female life expectancy with the lowest life expectancy towards the eastern wards and in Orchard Park with the lowest life expectancy of all in the wards to the west of the city centre. The highest life expectancy among women occurs – similar to men – from north to south through central Hull and in the wards to the west.

Healthy Life Expectancy At Birth

Healthy life expectancy is a measure of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health based on contemporary mortality rates and prevalence of self-reported good health. Healthy life expectancy is lower in Hull compared to England, and furthermore, when comparing life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, people in Hull live a shorter time in good health.

Examining trends over time show that healthy life expectancy at birth in Hull has remained relatively static between 2011-13 and 2016-18 for both men and women.

In the last two years, for men, healthy life expectancy at birth has decreased by 3.4 years in Hull between 2016-18 and 2018-20. In contrast, healthy life expectancy at birth for men in England decreased by only 0.3 years.

In the last two years, for women, healthy life expectancy at birth increased by 3.0 years in Hull between 2016-18 and 2017-19, but fell by 1.7 years between 2017-19 and 2018-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So there has been an increase of 1.3 years among Hull women in the last two years compared to no change for England. However, despite the recent increase among Hull women, healthy life expectancy at birth among women in Hull is statistically significantly lower than England.

For 2018-20, male healthy life expectancy and life expectancy at birth were 53.8 and 75.6 years respectively, so it is estimated that men spend 21.8 years of their life not in ‘good’ health which represents 28.8% of their lives (16.3 years for England representing 20.5%). For women, healthy life expectancy and life expectancy at birth were 57.9 and 80.0 years respectively, so it is estimated that women spend 22.1 years of their life not in ‘good’ health representing 27.6% of their lives (19.2 years for England representing 23.1%).

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years

For 2018-20, life expectancy at age 65 years is 16.2 years for men and 18.8 years for females in Hull, which is lower than England by 2.5 years for men and by 2.3 years for women. Contemporary mortality rate are more comparable to the actual rates in future over the next 15-20 years, so life expectancy at age 65 years is a more accurate estimate of the additional life expectancy or duration of life among those currently aged 65 years.

It is possible to calculate life expectancy at age 65 years using local mortality data and the Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates for Hull. For 2019-21, life expectancy at age 65 years decreased by 0.2 years to 16.0 years for men and by 0.1 years to 18.7 years for women. This means that life expectancy at age 65 years has decreased by 0.4 years for men and by 0.1 years for women over the last two years with an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic evident particularly among men who had a higher mortality rate from COVID-19. Further information on COVID-19 deaths can be found within Causes of Death in Hull under Population.

Among men, life expectancy at age 65 years increased between 2001-03 and 2012-14 from 15.2 years to a high of 16.8 years, but has decreased since then to 16.2 years for 2018-20. The recent decreases have not been as large as the increase over the previous decade so male life expectancy at age 65 years is higher in 2018-20 than it was in 2001-03. In contrast, for England, life expectancy at age 65 years has increased consistently over the same period with a small decrease between 2017-19 and 2018-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus the inequalities gap between Hull and England has increased over the last decade particularly in the last decade. The inequalities gap between Hull and England was 1.1 years in 2001-03, but was 2.5 years in 2018-20.

A similar pattern has occurred for Hull women as observed for men, although the changes (both the increase a decade ago and the decreases more recently) have been smaller. Life expectancy at ae 65 years increased from 18.1 years in 2001-03 to a high of 19.3 years for the period 2009-11 to 2011-13, before decreasing to its current level of 18.8 years in 2018-20. In contrast, there have been consistent increases across England with the exception of the latest year (due to COVID-19), but the increases for women were smaller than for men in England. The inequalities gap between Hull and England has also been increasing over time particularly in the last decade. The inequalities gap between Hull and England was 1.1 years in 2001-03, but was 2.3 years in 2018-20.

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years Among Local Deprivation Groups

Life expectancy at age 65 differs among the local deprivation tenths defined on the basis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary).

The following charts show the life expectancy at age 65 for each of the deprivation tenth areas of Hull.

In 2017-21, for male life expectancy at age 65 the third least, second least and least deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically higher than the Hull average of 16.2 years. The fourth most, third most, second most and most deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically lower than the Hull average. The fifth least deprived tenth area of Hull was also statistically lower than the Hull average. There was a 6.2 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived tenth areas of Hull (13.3 years in the most deprived compared with 19.5 in the least deprived).

In 2017-21, for female life expectancy at age 65 the third least, second least and least deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically higher than the Hull average of 18.7 years. The third most, second most and most deprived tenth areas of Hull were statistically lower than the Hull average. The fifth least deprived tenth area of Hull was also statistically lower than the Hull average. There was a 8.0 year gap between the life expectancies in the most and least deprived tenth areas of Hull (15.8 years in the most deprived compared with 23.8 in the least deprived).

Trends for life expectancy at 65 have been decreasing on the whole across all deprivation fifth areas of Hull since around 2011, with a sharper decrease seen in the last two years as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have become more evident.

For men, life expectancy at age 65 years has decreased by 0.2 years (1.6%) between 2002-04 and 2019-21 for men living in the most deprived fifth of areas of Hull. A decrease also occurred among men living in the middle deprivation fifth of areas of Hull of 0.5 years (3.1%), but increases occurred for the three remaining deprivation fifths of 0.8 (6.0%), 0.6 (3.6%) and 1.4 (7.9%) for men living in the second most, second least and least deprived fifth of areas of Hull respectively.

In 2002-04, there was a 3.5 year difference in male life expectancy at age 65 years between the most and least deprived fifth of areas of Hull (13.8 versus 17.3 years), but this has increased to 5.0 years for 2019-21.

For women, a similar pattern of change between 2002-04 and 2019-21 occurred as men with decreases in life expectancy among women living in the most deprived areas of Hull (0.6 years decrease, 3.3%) and women living in the middle fifth of areas of Hull (0.4 years decrease, 1.9%), but an increase among women living in the second most (0.1 years; 0.8%), second least (0.9 years; 4.9%) and least (2.9 years; 15.6%) deprived fifth of areas of Hull.

With the substantial increase in life expectancy at age 65 years among women living in the least deprived fifth of areas of Hull, the local inequalities gap between the most deprived and least deprived fifth of areas of Hull has increased considerably from 1.6 years in 2002-04 (17.0 versus 18.6 years) to 5.0 years in 2019-21 (16.5 versus 21.5 years).

Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years Among Hull’s Wards

There are considerable differences in life expectancy across Hull’s 21 wards with a gap between the wards with the highest and lowest average life expectancies at age 65 of 7.0 years for men and 8.9 years for women.

The following charts show the life expectancy at age 65 for each of Hull’s electoral wards. The 95% confidence intervals are shown (for more information see Confidence Intervals in the Glossary).

In 2017-21, for male life expectancy at 65, seven of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically lower than the Hull average of 16.1 years. They were Southcoates (15.2), North Carr (15.0), Newington & Gipsyville (14.9), Sutton (14.8), Orchard Park (14.6), Marfleet (14.4) and St Andrew’s & Docklands (13.5). Seven of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically higher than the Hull average. They were Derringham (17.2), West Carr (17.3), Drypool (17.6), Holderness (17.7), Beverley & Newland (18.2), Boothferry (18.3) and Kingswood (20.5). Between the ward with the highest life expectancy, Kingswood, and the ward with the lowest life expectancy, St Andrew’s & Docklands, there was a gap of 7.0 years in life expectancy (20.5 years versus 13.5).

In 2017-21, for female life expectancy at 65, eight of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically lower than the Hull average of 18.6 years. They were Orchard Park (17.5), Central (17.4), Longhill & Bilton Grange (17.2), Marfleet (16.9), North Carr (16.8), Southcoates (16.7), Newington & Gipsyville (16.5), St Andrew’s & Docklands (16.2). Nine of Hull’s electoral wards were statistically higher than the Hull average. They were Drypool (19.7), Derringham (20.2), West Carr (20.4), Ings (20.5), University (20.8), Beverley & Newland (21.2), Boothferry (21.5), Holderness (21.8), and Kingswood (25.1). Between the ward with the highest life expectancy, Kingswood, and the ward with the lowest life expectancy, St Andrew’s & Docklands, there was a gap of 8.9 years in life expectancy (25.1 years versus 16.2).

Healthy Life Expectancy At Age 65 Years

For 2018-20, healthy life expectancy at age 65 years is 7.2 years for men and 9.0 years for women in Hull which are 3.3 years and 2.3 years lower than men and women in England.

Among men, there has been some variability over time in healthy life expectancy at age 65 years with health life expectancy remaining relatively static over the entire period 2009-11 to 2018-20. It was highest in 2016-18 at 8.4 years but has decreased the last two years to 7.2 years in 2018-20. In contrast, there were increases in England to 2017-19 with a small decrease between 2017-19 and 2018-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For women, there have been some improvements in healthy life expectancy at age 65 years in Hull recently with a decrease in the last year due to the pandemic.

Disability Adjusted Life Years

Nationally, lower back and neck pain, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, sense organ diseases, depressive disorders, falls and skin diseases are the top 10 causes of disability, that is they are responsible for the highest number of disability adjusted life years (DALYs).

Strategic Need and Service Provision

Whilst increasing life expectancy is important, this needs to be achieved in conjunction with improvements in the quality of life. This is particularly so with an ageing population and the consequent increased demand on scarce health and social care resources.

Resources

L’Hôte E, Castellina M, Volmert A, Conklin L, and O’Shea P. A Matter of Life and Death: Explaining the Wider Determinants of Health in the UK. FrameWorks, 2022. Commissioned by The Health Foundation. https://www.health.org.uk/publications/a-matter-of-life-or-death

Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Segment Tool. https://analytics.phe.gov.uk/apps/segment-tool/

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 25 November 2022.

This page is due to be updated / checked in August 2023.