PHE 11 December 2018
A report on recent trends in life expectancy and mortality in England.
- After decades of progress, since 2011 improvement in age-standardised mortality rates and life expectancy has slowed down considerably, for both males and females. For some age groups, and for some parts of England, improvement has stopped altogether.
- Inequality in life expectancy has widened, and there has been a slowdown in improvement in mortality from heart disease and stroke – 2 leading causes of death.
- A number of other factors, operating simultaneously, have also potentially contributed to the slowdown in life expectancy. These include:
- a large increase in deaths in the winters
- more older people living with dementia and other long-term conditions,
- an increase in death rates from accidental poisoning, in particular, drug misuse.
