What’s new

The following new indicator has been added to the Wider Determinants of Health profile:

• fast food outlets per 100,000 population

Introduction

The environment in which we live and work has positive and negative effects on our health and wellbeing. One component of the built-up environment is food outlets and the choices they provide. Meals eaten outside of the home tend to be associated with higher calories, and portion sizes tend to be bigger, which can make it more challenging to eat healthily ^{[footnote 1][footnote 2]}. The neighbourhood food environment is an important modifiable determinant of dietary behaviour and obesity.

This statistical commentary summarises the fast food outlets per 100,000 population indicator added to the Wider Determinants of Health profile. This indicator is designed to help users understand the number of fast food outlets in an area, taking the size of the resident population into account. The data is presented at local authority level as it is local authorities that have responsibility for neighbourhood planning and licencing of food premises, as well as responsibility for public health for their resident population. The data presented here is a count of businesses identified as fast food outlets. It is a measure of exposure rather than a direct measure of access, availability or consumption for individuals which will be affected by factors such as opening hours, price and ease of car parking, public transport or delivery options. It helps assess the exposure of the resident population to fast food outlets.

For this analysis fast food has been defined as food that is energy dense and available quickly, usually via a counter service, and for consumption on or off the premises. It covers a range of outlets selling foods including, but not limited to:

• burgers
• pizza
• kebabs
• chicken
• Indian takeaway
• Chinese takeaway
• fish and chips

Guidance on interpretation of the local authority level data

The impact of food delivery services

In recent years there has been a large growth of food delivery services and meal delivery apps (MDAs). The food delivery companies allow customers to order food on a mobile phone app or website to be delivered to a chosen address. The availability of fast food via MDAs and websites expands the geographic coverage of fast food outlets. This makes it more likely that some customers will order food for delivery from outlets in neighbouring local authority areas, particularly in urban areas. These apps increase the potential exposure or reach of their outlets beyond the immediate resident or visiting population.

Cross local authority movements

Some people may travel in person to neighbouring local authorities to visit fast food outlets. Data that shows the fast food outlets located in an area may underestimate the exposure to fast food for the resident population. When viewing the data, users should consider the values for neighbouring local authorities to get a wider picture of the exposure to fast food for people living within the local authority of interest.

The impact of non-resident populations

It is also important to consider the impact of movements of the population for purposes such as work, shopping, entertainment or tourism. Some local authorities with larger numbers of fast food outlets per 100,000 resident population may be areas with a large non-resident workplace or visitor populations. These groups are not included in the population denominator but are potentially exposed to the outlets.

Main findings

The 2024 data shows:

• in England there were 115.9 fast food outlets per 100,000 population

• the number of fast food outlets per 100,000 population in England has increased since our baseline in 2017 of 98.3 per 100,000 population - 2017 data is available in table 2 of the accompanying data tables on the Wider Determinants of Health: February 2025 update page

• fast food outlets per 100,000 population ranges across upper and lower tier local authorities from 39.2 in Wokingham to 2,406.8 in City of London (City of London is an outlier in the data). The local authorities with the next highest values are Camden with 417.4 fast food outlets per 100,000 population and Westminster with 248.2 per 100,000

• fast food outlets per 100,000 population in the most deprived decile of lower tier local authorities are double the level in the least deprived decile: 146.6 per 100,000 population compared with 73.1 - see the data split by deprivation level as a chart in the Fingertips profile

Detailed findings

Figure 1 shows the association between fast food outlets per 100,000 population and area level deprivation. On average, the local authorities with a higher deprivation score (more deprived), which include several large city authorities, have a higher number of fast food outlets per 100,000 population. Data from the Health survey for England 2019: adult and child overweight and obesity report and the obesity profile on Fingertips (which uses data from Active Lives surveys) shows that the prevalence of obesity in England increases with increasing levels of deprivation and fruit and vegetable consumption decreases with increasing levels of deprivation.

Figure 1: association between fast food outlets per 100,000 population and deprivation by lower tier local authority (City of London excluded from chart)

The Fingertips profile shows the:

• data for local authorities as a map
• data for local authorities as a chart

Further information

The data source for this indicator is the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) data set recorded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), downloaded in February 2024.

Fast food outlets are selected from the data using an inclusion criteria that is described in the indicator metadata.  In summary, all premises from the ‘takeaway/sandwich shop’ business type within the FHRS data set have been included and additional premises have been selected from other business types based on the business name using the main chains and a keyword search.

It is likely that the data does not show the complete picture for fast food outlets. Many of the outlets that could be considered ‘fast food’ are likely to be multifunctional, that is, sit-down and eat in, takeaway and home delivery. As a result, some businesses recorded under the category of restaurant or cafe, which are not selected via the keyword or named chain search criteria, may not have been included here.

The opening times of the businesses are not known from the data. Opening times throughout the week may differ and some outlets, such as those in coastal towns, may have seasonal changes to their opening hours. These factors should be considered when examining the local data.

For queries relating to this document, please contact: pha-ohid@dhsc.gov.uk

References