Official Statistics

Health Inequalities Dashboard: statistical commentary, June 2022

Published 30 June 2022

Applies to England

Main findings

In this data update, several of the dashboard indicators include data for 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Where possible, mortality indicators have been updated to show trends based on single year data, so that the impact of the pandemic can be clearly seen.

Mortality rates

The long-term decrease in mortality rates from cardiovascular disease in people under the age of 75 ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a significant increase from 68.9 per 100,000 population in 2019 to 73.8 per 100,000 in 2020. The biggest increase between these years was in the most deprived decile of the population, where the rate increased significantly from 138.1 per 100,000 to 151.7. Although there has not been a significant increase in inequality in recent years, in 2020 people living in the most deprived tenth of areas were still 4 times more likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease than people in the least deprived areas.

Unlike cardiovascular disease, the premature mortality rate for cancer did not increase in 2020, and there was also no significant increase in inequality. People in the most deprived areas of England in 2020 were still 2.1 times as likely to die early from cancer than people in the least deprived areas.

The infant mortality rate remained unchanged between 2013 to 2015 and 2018 to 2020. There was also no significant change in inequality between these time periods. The infant mortality in the most deprived areas in 2018 to 2020 remained 2.2 times higher than in the least deprived areas.

Life expectancy

For life expectancy, data is available in the dashboard for 3 years pooled, so 2018 to 2020 data contains 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy for males in England significantly decreased by 0.4 years to 79.4 in 2018 to 2020 when compared to 2017 to 2019. The gap in male life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas in England significantly widened from 9.4 to 9.7 years between 2017 to 2019 and 2018 to 2020. This gap has been widening over the last decade but 2018 to 2020 was the first time there was a significant increase between the 2 most recent time periods. Although there was a fall in male life expectancy across all levels of deprivation in 2018 to 2020, the biggest fall (0.6 years) was for those living in the most deprived 10% of areas.

Female life expectancy in England also significantly decreased by 0.3 years to 83.1 years in 2018 to 2020 and the inequality gap significantly widened by 0.3 years to 7.9 years. The greatest fall in life expectancy in 2018 to 2020 was for those living in the most deprived areas where life expectancy significantly fell by 0.4 years. The gap in female life expectancy has been gradually widening over the last 2 decades, but the increase in 2018 to 2020 is the biggest and only significant increase seen between time periods across the whole of the trend data.

Data for single years showing the impact of the pandemic on life expectancy and inequalities in life expectancy at England and regional level from 2015 onwards can be found in the COVID-19 Health Inequalities Monitoring for England (CHIME) tool. This shows a decrease in life expectancy and a widening of inequality in 2020, consistent with what was seen in the latest 3 year pooled data.

Wellbeing and wider determinants of health

The percentage of the population reporting a low life satisfaction score increased significantly during the pandemic, from 4.7% in the financial year 2019 to 2020 to 6.1% in 2020 to 2021. An increase was seen across all employment groups and in this latest period, 4.1% of working people reported a low life satisfaction score, while for the unemployed it was 12.2% and 8.9% among the economically inactive. This is an average difference of 6.5 percentage points between the employment groups, slightly wider than in 2019 to 2020 (6.2 percentage points) but narrower than the start of the time series in 2013 to 2014 (7.1 percentage points).

The percentage of children (aged under 16) in relative low-income families increased between the financial years 2014 to 2015 and 2019 to 2020 from 15.2% to 19.1%. In 2019 to 2020, children living in the most deprived tenth of areas were 3.4 times more likely to be in a relative low-income family compared with those in the least deprived areas. This relative gap has widened from 3.1 in 2014 to 2015.

The percentage of 16 to 17 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEETs) has not changed since 2018 and remains at 5.5%. Absolute inequality has narrowed between the most and least deprived deciles to 0.6 percentage points, due to an increase in the percentage of 16 to 17 year old NEETs in the least deprived decile between 2018 and 2020.

Background

The Health Inequalities Dashboard provides information to monitor progress on reducing inequalities within England. It presents measures of inequality for 19 indicators, each drawn from the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF).

The dashboard measures trends in each indicator since a baseline period, with longer term data provided where these are available. Inequalities are considered across a range of dimensions, including deprivation, ethnic group, sexual orientation and employment status.

The Health Inequalities Dashboard was first made publicly available in July 2017 and the webtool was launched in September 2018.

New in this update

The following changes have been made since the previous update in March 2021:

• 8 indicators have been updated with the latest inequality data:
  • life expectancy at birth
  • children in absolute low-income families
  • children in relative low-income families
  • 16 to 17 year olds not in education, employment or training
  • self-reported wellbeing: percentage achieving a low life satisfaction score
  • infant mortality rate
  • premature mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases
  • premature mortality rate from cancer
• Indicators of premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancer have moved from being presented as 3 year rolling rates to annual rates so that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be more clearly seen
• 3 mortality indicators now use the log slope index of inequality (SII) method to measure inequality. More information can be found in the guidance and FAQs section of the Dashboard homepage:
  • premature mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases
  • premature mortality rate from cancer
  • suicide rate
• some changes have been made to the user interface of the tool to make the charts more accessible

View the Health Inequalities Dashboard.

Responsible statistician, product lead: Laura Powell

Any queries can be directed to pha-ohid@dhsc.gov.uk