The UK needs urgent steps to reverse the decline in life expectancy after an international ranking showed it fared among the worst in G-7 nations, ending above the United States, a British medical journal said.
(Bloomberg) — The UK needs urgent steps to reverse the decline in life expectancy after an international ranking showed it fared among the worst in G-7 nations, ending above the United States, a British medical journal said.
It ranked 29th in the world in 2021 for life expectancy, a stark contrast to the UK’s 7th place globally in 1952, the year Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, according to the paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine on Thursday. The US was at the bottom of G-7 grouping, which includes Japan, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.
A rise in income inequality in the UK since the 1980s has primarily led to a widening gap in life expectancy between different social groups, the report said. Poorer groups were the worst hit in recent years, and OECD data showed the UK is now the second-most economically unequal country in Europe after Bulgaria.
“A relative worsening of population health is evidence that all is not well. It has historically been an early sign of severe political and economic problems,” said Lucinda Hiam, one of the authors. “This new analysis suggests that the problems the UK faces are deep seated and raises serious questions about the path that this country is following.”
Although life expectancy in the UK has increased in absolute terms over recent decades, other countries are experiencing larger increases and now rank higher, the analysis says.
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