Ian Sample

So the drop is more in women than men.

And the proportion of life that a man spends in good health is down from 79% to 77%.

And for women, it's down from 77% to 73%.

This decline in healthy life expectancy was seen across the board from the least deprived to the most deprived areas.

But the steepest declines were in those most deprived areas.

So inequality is worsening.

When you look at the UK as a whole, it shows you that healthy life expectancy has fallen below state pension age in 90% of areas.

And in more than one in 10 local areas, healthy life expectancy is now below 55 years.

There is a massive health span inequality in the UK and even within England.

I mean, if you look at Richmond-upon-Thames in West London, a wealthy part of the country...

The average health span for a man there is 69.3 years, and for a woman it's 70.3 years.

But if you go 250 or so miles north, you'll find the average health span for a man in Blackpool is 50.9 years, so much lower.

And the average for a woman in Hartlepool, around the same sort of level up north, is 51.2 years.

So there is an incredible divide here.

Well, we know that we're a pretty sick nation.

We have poor health as a nation when you compare our health to other nations.

And the report highlights obesity as a major factor.

I mean, we're absolutely one of the most obese countries.

And that's causing more diabetes, more heart disease, more stroke, more cancer.

But there's also high numbers of deaths from alcohol, drugs, suicide.