Dark Matters Press | 7th July 2025
Purpose: To critically examine regional disparities in life and healthy life expectancy across the UK and assess the implications of raising the State Pension age from an equity and public health perspective.
Executive Summary
Recent UK government proposals suggest increasing the State Pension age to 68 by the mid-2030s, based on rising national life expectancy. However, this average conceals major regional, class, and occupational disparities in both lifespan and years lived in good health. In some localities, particularly in the north of England, it is increasingly common for men to die before even reaching pension age. The decision to raise retirement thresholds using national averages – while ignoring regional health inequalities – risks entrenching systemic injustice and class-based survival gaps.
1. National Overview: The Life Expectancy Narrative
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK’s national life expectancy at birth for the 2020–2022 period is:
78.9 years for men
82.8 years for women
These averages are used to justify extending the working lifespan, suggesting that individuals will have longer retirements. However, this framing ignores major internal disparities, particularly between wealthier southern regions and post-industrial northern and coastal communities.
> “Policies based on average life expectancy ignore the fact that for many in poorer communities, living to 78 is not a given – it’s a statistical luxury.”
(Institute for Health Equity, 2020)
2. Regional Disparities in Life Expectancy (2020–22)
Region Male Life Expectancy Female Life Expectancy
North East 77.2 years 81.2 years
North West 77.3 years 81.3 years
Yorkshire & Humber 77.9 years 81.9 years
West Midlands 78.1 years 82.2 years
East Midlands 78.6 years 82.4 years
East of England 79.8 years 83.5 years
South West 80.0 years 83.9 years
South East 80.1 years 83.8 years
London 79.1 years 83.6 years
England overall 78.9 years 82.8 years
Wales 77.9 years 81.8 years
Northern Ireland 78.4 years 82.3 years
Source: Office for National Statistics (2023)
3. Local Authority Extremes
According to the same dataset:
Lowest Male Life Expectancy:
Blackpool: 73.4 years
Highest Male Life Expectancy:
Hart (Hampshire): 83.7 years
Lowest Female Life Expectancy:
Blaenau Gwent: 78.9 years
Highest Female Life Expectancy:
Kensington & Chelsea: 86.3 years
➡️ Range (Men): 10.3 years
➡️ Range (Women): 7.4 years
Source: ONS (2023), Life Expectancy for Local Areas of the UK: 2020–2022
4. Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE): A Deeper Inequality
Life expectancy is not the same as healthy life expectancy – the number of years lived in good health, free from chronic illness or disability.
In the most deprived areas of England, men’s HLE is as low as 52–55 years, with women’s around 54–58 years.
In contrast, in affluent areas, HLE can exceed 70 years.
> “The inequality in healthy life expectancy at birth between the most and least deprived deciles in England is around 19.3 years for women and 18.4 years for men.”
(Public Health England, 2018).
5. Impact on Working-Class Communities
📌 Case Study: Glasgow
In some districts, 1 in 4 men die before age 65.
This phenomenon is so pronounced it’s termed the “Glasgow Effect”.
📌 Case Study: Barrow-in-Furness (Cumbria)
Life expectancy for men: 71.5 years.
Multiple industrial and economic stressors contribute to early mortality.
> “Raising the pension age in such areas means some will never live to claim it – or will claim it only in a state of declining health and poverty.”
(The Times, 2025)
6. Academic & Policy Critique
The Marmot Review 10 Years On (2020) confirmed that life expectancy stalled or declined in many UK regions for the first time in 100+ years, particularly among the poorest.
The OECD (2023) noted the UK has some of the worst retirement equity gaps in Europe due to flat-rate pension design and rising retirement age.
> “A just pension system must account not just for lifespan, but for years lived in hardship, labour, and deteriorating health.”
(Marmot et al., 2020).
7. Policy Recommendations
To correct systemic inequality, the following reforms should be considered:
1. Index pension age to local life expectancy or occupational health risk.
2. Allow early retirement without penalty for low-income or manual labour sectors.
3. Implement region-sensitive planning in retirement, welfare, and labour law.
4. Reassess the role of AI/automation in reducing human work-life load.
5. Conduct regular health equity audits as part of pension reviews.
Conclusion
Raising the State Pension age in the name of “longevity” is a political move that does not reflect public health realities. In a country where men in one town may live to 83 while those in another die at 71, using a national average to decide retirement policy is not just misguided – it is unethical.
This policy accelerates inequality by asking those who live the hardest lives to work the longest, often dying before they can retire.
A fair retirement system must reflect who lives long enough to retire – and who doesn’t.
References
Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2023). Life Expectancy for Local Areas of the UK: 2020 to 2022. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthinequalities/bulletins/healthylifeexpectancybynationalareadeprivationenglandandwales/between2013to2015and2020to2022
Public Health England. (2018). Health Profile for England: Chapter 5 – Inequalities in Health. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england-2018/chapter-5-inequalities-in-health
Institute of Health Equity. (2020). Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On. https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/marmot-review-10-years-on
OECD. (2023). Pensions at a Glance 2023: OECD and G20 Indicators. https://socialprotection.org/sites/default/files/publications_files/678055dd-en.pdf
The Times. (2025). How life expectancy in the UK fell into a Soviet-style slump. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/how-life-expectancy-in-the-uk-fell-into-a-soviet-style-slump-jdfl0v3f9