Big life expectancy gap between rich & poor?
The claim
“In my own city of Sheffield, a child born today in the poorest neighbourhood in Sheffield will die a full – born today, 2010 – will on average die a full 14 year before a child born just up the road in the wealthiest neighbourhood. And that gap hasn’t shifted at all in the last decade.”
Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, Speech at Christ Church, New Malden, 18 April 2010
The background
Fairness. It’s the Lib Dems’ buzz word for this election. They want to build a fairer Britain. And just how unfair is Britain? Well, one of the examples the Lib Dem leader used yesterday morning was that a child born in a poorer area of Sheffield has a life expectancy 14 years lower than one in a neighbouring rich area.
It’s a familiar claim made by the Lib Dems – Sarah Teather used a similar statistic for her own constituency at the start of the party’s manifesto launch – and if true it would be shocking. But are Mr Clegg’s facts fair?
The analysis
The Liberal Democrats deferred to statistics from NHS Sheffields Health and Well-being Atlas. This gives details of life expectancy in neighbourhoods in Sheffield up to 2006.
According to this data, the lowest life expectancy for men and women across the whole of Sheffield between 2002-2006 was in Crookesmoor at 70.9 years, with the highest in Ecclesall at 88.8 years – a gap of 17.9 years.
So why does Mr Clegg refer to life expectancy gap of 14 years instead of the higher numbers of 17 or 18 to make his point?
Well, it may simply be that his numbers are a little out of date. The 2006 Sheffield Director of Public Health Report that the Liberal Democrats initially pointed FactCheck to cites the 14 year life expectancy gap.
From 1998-2002 the greatest gap was between the City Centre and Fulwood, and was indeed exactly 14 years. This is the smallest the gap has been during the time data is available for on the NHS Sheffield atlas.
Looking at the trend, the life expectancy gap fluctuations over the period, but within the limits of 14 years and 17.9 years. So, broadly speaking, the gap has remained roughly the same in the years from 1997-2006, which may correspond to the decade Mr Clegg referred to.
However, it’s worth noting that different neighbourhoods are at the limits of the gap in the different time periods, and life expectancy has increased in all but nine of the 90 neighbourhoods listed (in the nine areas, life expectancy fell between 0.1 years and 3.1 years).
If we have one minor quibble with Mr Clegg it is his stressed reference to 2010. The 2006 numbers are the latest statistics published by NHS Sheffield, and even the Office of National Statistics most recent data for the whole country only covers life expectancy up to 2008.
But then again, since the gap remained pretty constant in the previous years, Mr Clegg could fairly assume that this trend has continued.
The verdict
It seems that, although some of his details and timescales may be a little wayward, Mr Clegg’s comments are a fair representation of life expectancy in Sheffield.
The 14 year life expectancy gap quoted is out of date – referring to 1998-2002 figures rather than the 2010 Mr Clegg stressed – but the gap has since increased to 17.9 years, reinforcing Mr Clegg’s point.
UPDATE: NHS Sheffield have just released updated statistics for the Atlas for the years up to 2008. They also point out that the neighbourhoods with the lowest life expectancy is not necessarily the poorest, but one of the poorer areas. Likewise the area with the highest life expectancy is not necessarily the richest.
There are 5 comments on this post
Have you checked whether Crookesmoor *is* the poorest ward in Sheffield? Or are you taking it as the poorest ward on the grounds that it has the lowest life expectancy? Crookesmoor is full of students these days, with a non-student population largely ghettoised into council flats who have to suffer the fact that many local shops, pubs, services are based around a student population. I suspect many people in their old age move (or are moved) elsewhere in the city (I know from the experience of looking for old people’s homes for my grandad there was very little in that area & he had to move to Nether Edge to be accommodated, an apparently “wealthier” area but where there is a good deal of sheltered housing/old people’s homes).
Secondly, if Nick Clegg is so concerned about the “poorest” wards in Sheffield, why is the Lib Dem controlled council in his “own” city busily and noisily redistributing wealth from those poorest wards to the richest (largely the ones in Clegg’s own constituency) through their pledge to spend equal amounts on every ward in the city? Or does he not think public spending makes any difference?
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Should Clegg be boasting about increasing inequality in his own constituency? It proves he has been unable to do anything about it. Some of his constituents might want to write to their MP!
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Life expectancy is very often initially determined by the health of Mum. Under-nourished Mums usually produce weaker babies who struggle throughout life. Well-nourished Mums usually have stronger babies who become more successful adults. Under-nourished Mums are likely to sustain their poorly nourished children.
Thus the dire effects of poverty are spread over generations and is a worldwide issue we should aim to defeat. Where there are significant numbers of migrants from poor countries – say, poor Asian countries – that does drag down overall life expectancies in particular wards in our country. So we don’t know from raw stats, just where and what the causes for comparative low life expectancy really are?
What we do know is that poor diet, bad housing and health are caused mostly by low incomes, and by dismal expectations spilling over into low education achievements and low-pay careers.
Life expectancy in the UK is rising faster than in the 1980s and we should celebrate that; and try to spread the causes more widely.
Much more difficult to achieve that goal in our poorest wards in all regions, than it is to prescribe effective remedies! Which Clegg dies not.
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Could it be something to do with the level of smoking in poor areas, hardly something you can blame on those who don’t smoke?
It might also be something to do with diet, it is frequently claimed that poor people are required to eat badly. Standing behind people an the supermarket checkout it is clear that fat people (who die earlier than thin) eat a diet rich in fats. It really costs no more to eat a proper balanced diet that the chicken nuggets and chips that are so beloved of some people. Watch Jamie Oliver and you will see why some people die early and it’s not because they can’t afford healthy eating, it’s because they can’t be bothered. Don’t tell me that people can’t afford to eat when Sky TV dishes are screwed to the walls of so many houses, it’s just that they have different priorities.
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While we are discussing about topics relevant to The FactCheck Blog – Big life expectancy gap between rich & poor?, “paying it forward.” You have heard of that, haven’t you? If not, do a net search for it and you’ll see what I mean.
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