Methods
Sources and methods
Every figure comes from official statistics, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Numbers in the story are computed from these files when the site is built; none are typed in by hand.
Life expectancy
ONS period life expectancy for UK local areas, three-year windows from 2001–03 to 2022–24, at birth and at age 65, for males and females. A period figure summarises death rates in those years. It isn't a forecast of how long anyone born then will live.
ONS doesn't test local differences for significance. Where this site calls a change or gap not significant, the 95% confidence intervals overlap. City of London and the Isles of Scilly are left out of the ONS local series because their populations are small. English counties are a separate geography, so they are never ranked against districts.
The story's calculations
Gap to the UK. Each place's life expectancy minus the UK figure for the same sex and period. Colours saturate at 4.5 years either side.
The stall. Average yearly gain between period windows: (2011–13 minus 2001–03) ÷ 10, and (2017–19 minus 2011–13) ÷ 6. The dashed line extends the 2001–13 pace from 2011–13; it shows where the earlier trend would have led, not a forecast.
Deprivation tenths. English local authorities ranked by IMD 2025 average score and cut into ten groups of equal count. The same 2025 grouping is used for every year, so “most deprived” means most deprived today. Group figures are simple means of areas, not weighted by population.
Healthy years. The same method on upper-tier authorities, because healthy life expectancy isn't published for English districts.
Healthy life expectancy
Years lived in self-reported good or very good health, from the Annual Population Survey. ONS labels it official statistics in development, and its survey changed during the pandemic, so treat recent movements with care. In England it is published for upper-tier authorities only, so a district shows its county's figure.
Avoidable deaths
Age-standardised death rates from causes that are preventable through public health or treatable through timely healthcare, for people under 75. ONS publishes these for England and Wales only.
Deprivation
English Indices of Deprivation 2025, local authority summaries. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own index. Their ranks can't be compared with England's, so they aren't included.
Local indicators
15 indicators from OHID Fingertips, England only, fetched 2026-09-24. Each uses the latest period with values for at least 90% of local authorities (80% for drug deaths, where small counts are suppressed). Correlations are Pearson r across local authorities, each area counted once regardless of population.
| Indicator | Group | Period | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adults who smoke | Behaviour | 2024 | % |
| Adults living with obesity | Behaviour | 2024/25 | % |
| Physically inactive adults | Behaviour | 2024/25 | % |
| Alcohol-specific hospital admissions | Behaviour | 2023/24 | per 100,000 |
| Deprivation score (IMD 2025) | Economy | 2025 | score |
| Children in absolute low-income families | Economy | 2024/25 | % |
| Unemployment | Economy | 2025 | % |
| Households in fuel poverty | Economy | 2024 | % |
| Deaths attributable to fine particulate air pollution | Environment | 2024 | % |
| Under-75 deaths from cardiovascular disease | Early deaths | 2023–25 | per 100,000 |
| Under-75 deaths from cancer | Early deaths | 2023–25 | per 100,000 |
| Under-75 deaths from respiratory disease | Early deaths | 2023–25 | per 100,000 |
| Under-75 deaths from liver disease | Early deaths | 2023–25 | per 100,000 |
| Deaths from drug misuse | Early deaths | 2022–24 | per 100,000 |
| Suicide rate | Early deaths | 2022–24 | per 100,000 |
Correlation between areas isn't causation, and it says nothing about individuals. Deprivation, smoking, obesity and early deaths move together, so their links with life expectancy overlap rather than add up. OHID's Segment tool splits the deprivation gap in life expectancy by cause of death.
Maps and code
Boundaries from the ONS Open Geography Portal (contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right). The hex layout in the story is Open Innovations' UK local authority hex map (MIT licence). Postcode search uses postcodes.io. Processing scripts are in the GitHub repository.