Healthy Life Expectancy – UK and Cornwall

Despite an appearance of a pleasant environment - Cornwall has problems with health

UK Main points

In 2022 to 2024:

Males in the UK could expect to spend 60.7 years (77% of life) in "good" general health, compared with 60.9 years (73%) for females; these were decreases of 1.8 and 2.5 years, respectively, compared with the last non-overlapping period (2019 to 2021).

 

Despite modest increases in life expectancy since 2019 to 2021, healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth in the UK, for both males and females, decreased to its lowest level since our time series began in 2011 to 2013.

 

England continued to have the highest HLE at birth among UK constituent countries for both males (60.9 years) and females (61.3 years); Scotland had the lowest for males (59.1 years) and Wales had the lowest for females (58.5 years).

 

In England, for both males and females, the South East remained the region with the highest HLE at birth (63.0 and 64.3 years, respectively), and the North East remained the region with lowest (57.0 and 56.9 years, respectively); the North East has had the lowest HLE at birth in every period since our time series began.

 

HLE decreased in most of the UK's local areas compared with 2019 to 2021 (in 83% of areas for males and 88% for females); it decreased in a majority of areas within every constituent country and every region of England.

 

The gap in HLE at birth across local areas of the UK, measured as the difference between the 97.5th and 2.5th percentiles, was 14.7 years for males and 15.8 years for females; this continued a trend of increasing spatial inequality since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. [ONS].

 

Cornwall

In the 2022-24 period the HLE for Cornwall for females was 60 years for males 60.2 years.  The proportion of years spent in good health was 72% for females, 76% for males. 

 

The table below shows changes over time. HLE and the proportion of years spent in good health have fallen for both females and males.

 

	HLE (years)		Proportion (%)
Period	Female	Male	Female	Male
2011 to 2013	63.6	62.6	76	79
2012 to 2014	64.5	63.5	77	80
2013 to 2015	65.2	63.7	78	80
2014 to 2016	64.2	63.1	77	79
2015 to 2017	64.4	63.7	77	80
2016 to 2018	63.5	62.7	76	79
2017 to 2019	64.4	63.9	77	80
2018 to 2020	65.4	64.3	78	81
2019 to 2021	63.4	62.1	76	78
2020 to 2022	62.3	61.9	75	78
2021 to 2023	59.8	60.2	72	76
2022 to 2024	60	60.2	72	76

 

 

Comparing the figures for Cornwall with neighbouring local authorities in South-west England indicates that all are to varying degrees better off in health terms on the four metrics.  The exception is HLE for males in Bristol.

 

Notes

This release is designated as official statistics in development because of decreasing Annual Population Survey sample sizes. Uncertainty around our estimates is reflected in our 95% confidence intervals.

 

HLE refers to healthy life expectancy; LCI refers to lower bound of the 95% confidence interval; UCI refers to upper bound of the 95% confidence interval; Proportion (%) refers to proportion of life spent in good health.

  

Healthy life expectancy

A summary measure of health that adds a quality dimension to estimates of life expectancy by dividing expected lifespan into time spent in different states of health. Healthy life expectancy measures health-related wellbeing and represents the average time an individual is expected to live in "very good" or "good" general health, based on how individuals perceive their general health.

 

Source

Office for National Statistics, (19 February 2026), Healthy life expectancy, UK: between 2011 to 2013 and 2022 to 2024.

 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/healthstatelifeexpectanciesuk/between2011to2013and2022to2024