Health in the United Kingdom refers to the overall health of the population of the United Kingdom. This includes overall trends such as life expectancy and mortality rates, mental health of the population and the suicide rate, smoking rates, alcohol consumption, prevalence of diseases within the population and obesity in the United Kingdom. Three of these – smoking rates, alcohol consumption and obesity – were above the OECD average in 2015.[1]
Life expectancy in the country consistently rose from the 18th century onward, but the rate of increase slowed from 2011 and stagnated in 2018. Social trends such as obesity rates within the country have consistently risen since the 1970s, while smoking rates have consistently decreased since then.
Health status
editThe Nuffield Trust and the Association for Young People's Health produced a report on the health of young people in February 2019, comparing the UK with 18 other similar European countries. They found that the UK had the highest rates of obesity, the highest rate of young people living with a longstanding condition, apart from Finland and Sweden, and, among 11 year olds, very low rates of exercise. However, the UK had some of the lowest smoking, suicide and road accidents.[2]
| General health (self-identified) | England and Wales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001[3] | 2011[4] | 2021[5] | ||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Very good health | 35,676,210 | 68.6% | 26,434,409 | 47.1% | 28,827,308 | 48.4% |
| Good health | 19,094,820 | 34.1% | 20,046,220 | 33.6% | ||
| Fair health | 11,568,363 | 22.2% | 7,401,881 | 13.2% | 7,597,001 | 12.7% |
| Bad health | 4,797,343 | 9.2% | 2,428,668 | 4.3% | 2,412,358 | 4.0% |
| Very bad health | 716,134 | 1.3% | 714,655 | 1.2% | ||
| Total | 52,041,916 | 100% | 56,075,912 | 100% | 59,597,542 | 100.0% |
Life expectancy
edit
In 2013, life expectancy at birth was 83 years for women and 79 for men.[6] In 2016, life expectancy was found to be rising more slowly in the UK than in comparable nations.[7][8] In 2018, life expectancy in the UK stopped increasing.[9] There were 50,100 excess deaths during winter 2017/2018, mostly among older people, and the highest number since 1976; cold weather and problems with flu vaccine were blamed.[10] In January 2024, The BMJ reported that data is suggesting that "life expectancy in the UK seems to have reduced by around half a year per person", partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that was published in November 2024 indicated that the United Kingdom has the worst life expectancy in western Europe.[12]
Infant mortality
edit
Infant mortality rates have been decreasing since the early 1840s, due to general improvements in sanitation and diet and more recently because of improvements in midwifery and neonatal intensive care.[13]
Obesity
editThe rising rates of childhood obesity were described as a "national emergency" by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in February 2016.[14] 28.1% of adults in the United Kingdom were recognised as clinically obese with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30 in 2014.[15] The increasing numbers of people with obesity leads to the growing number of diabetes diagnoses.[16]
Diabetes
editDiabetes is a major concern in the UK as the number of diagnoses have doubled in the past 15 years. In 2021 there were 4.1 million people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes, 90% of them having type 2. There were a further 1 million people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and 13.6 million people were at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, half of which could be prevented.[16]
Smoking rates
editIn 1974, 45% of the British population smoked. The smoking rate was down to 30% by the early-1990s, 21% by 2010, and 19.3% by 2013, the lowest level for eighty years.[17] In 2015, smoking rates in England had fallen to 16.9%.[18]
Cancer
editThere were 361,216 cancer diagnoses in 2014 in the United Kingdom.[19] Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK (around 56,000 women and 375 men are diagnosed with the disease every year).[20] Cancer Research UK estimates that 15% of UK cancers are caused by smoking,[21] and 3-4% of UK cancers are related to alcohol consumption.[22]
Mental health
editIn 2014, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey reported that 17% of those surveyed in England met the criteria for a common mental disorder. About 37% of those were accessing mental health treatment. Those more severely affected were more likely to be accessing services.[23] In 2017 a survey found that 65% of Britons have experienced a mental health problem, with 26% having had a panic attack and 42% said they had suffered from depression.[24]
Rates of severe anxiety and depression among unemployed people increased from 10.1% in June 2013 to 15.2% in March 2017. In the general population the increase was from 3.4% to 4.1%.[25]
Suicide
edit5,608 and 5,675 people aged 15 and over died by suicide in 2009 to 2011 respectively.[26][27] The share of deaths percentage wise in which suicide has contributed to has roughly remained under 1% since the 1990's.[28] The most recent figures for 2019 show that suicides made up 0.9% of deaths in the United Kingdom.[28]
Drug-related deaths
editHIV/AIDS
editAn estimated 101,200 people are living with HIV in the UK (0.16% of the population), 13% of whom are unaware of their infection. Of those, 69% are men and 31% were women.[29] Just under half of those living with HIV are gay or bisexual men.[29] 1 in 7 gay or bisexual men in London are living with HIV, compared to 1 in 25 in the rest of the UK and less than 1 in 500 for the general population.[29]
6,095 people were newly diagnosed during 2015, a trend which has remained relatively constant since 2010.[30] An estimated 39% of diagnoses were late (likely to have been living with the virus for over three years).[29]
Disability
editIn 2014 more than 11 million British people (excluding Northern Ireland) were reported to have a long term impairment or disability. The incidence rises with age. About 6% of children, 16% of working age adults and 45% of pensioners are reported as having a disability.[31]
Vaccination
editIn the United Kingdom, the purchase and distribution of vaccines is managed centrally, and recommended vaccines are provided for free by the NHS.[32]
Social and economic issues
editThe Black Report, published by the Conservative government in 1980, highlighted the relationship between socioeconomic status and health outcomes. It demonstrated greater inequality of mortality between occupational classes I and V both in 1970–72 and 1959–63 than in 1949–53.[33]
Climate change
edit
Climate change has significant implications for health, healthcare and health inequality in the UK.[34] The National Health Service describes climate change as a "health emergency", citing the health impacts of floods, storms and heat waves, as well as the increased risk of infectious diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis and vibriosis.[35] It also suggests reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would also reduce deaths from air pollution.[35]
Climate change had made heat waves 30 times more likely in the UK and 3,400 people died from them in the years 2016–2019. Climate change-driven heatwaves in other countries important for crop production may also be more severe, which will have an indirect impact on the UK.[36] UK heat waves have implications for human health and can drive excess deaths, particularly among the elderly.[37] Heavy rainfall intensified by climate change killed at least 20 people in the UK and Ireland in 2023-2024.[38]See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Health at a Glance 2015 How does the United Kingdom compare?" (PDF). OECD. 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ "International comparisons of health and wellbeing in adolescence and early adulthood". Nuffield Trust. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ "KS008 - Health and provision of unpaid care - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ "QS302EW (General health) - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ "TS037 - General health - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". World Health Organization. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ "UK among worst for life expectancy rises". BBC News. 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
- ^ UK life expectancy growth falls faster than other leading nations The Guardian, 7 August 2018
- ^ Life expectancy progress in UK 'stops for first time' BBC
- ^ Campbell, Denis (2018-11-30). "Excess winter deaths in England and Wales highest since 1976". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
- ^ O’Dowd, Adrian (12 January 2024). "Covid-19 has cut UK life expectancy by around half a year, data suggest". BMJ. 384: q78. doi:10.1136/bmj.q78. PMID 38216221. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ Searles, Michael (18 November 2024). "Britain has worst life expectancy in western Europe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Childhood mortality in England and Wales: 2015". Office for National Statistics. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Sparrow, Andrew (7 February 2016). "Childhood obesity is a national emergency, says Jeremy Hunt". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Prevalence of obesity, ages 18+, 2010-2014". World Health Organization. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
- ^ a b "Diabetes: putting people at the heart of services". NIHR Evidence. 2022-07-26. doi:10.3310/nihrevidence_52026. S2CID 251299176.
- ^ "Ministers aim to halve number of people smoking by 2020". BBC News. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- ^ "Smoking rates in England fall to lowest on record". BBC News. 20 September 2016.
- ^ "Cancer Is More Common Than Marriage Or Having A First Baby In The UK". International Business Times. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ "Facts and figures". Breast Cancer UK. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
- ^ "Cancer risk statistics, subheading Tobacco statistics". Cancer Research UK. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ^ "Cancer risk statistics, subheading Preventable cancers". Cancer Research UK. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ^ "Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2014". NHS Digital. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ Two thirds of adults experience mental health problems such as anxiety or depression, survey finds. The Independent. Published 8 May 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- ^ "Government welfare cuts blamed for 50% surge in mental health issues among unemployed". The Independent. 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-05-09. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ "UK suicide rate rises 'significantly' in 2011". BBC News. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ "Suicide rates in the United Kingdom, 2006 to 2010" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ a b Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban (2015-06-15). "Suicide". Our World in Data.
- ^ a b c d "HIV in the UK" (PDF). UK Government. Public Health England. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "HIV diagnoses, late diagnoses and numbers accessing treatment and care" (PDF). UK Government. Public Health England. October 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "Disability facts and figures". Department for Work and Pensions - Office for Disability Issues. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
- ^ Freed GL (2005). "Vaccine policies across the pond: looking at the U.K. and U.S. systems". Health Affairs. 24 (3): 755–7. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.24.3.755. PMID 15886170.
- ^ Black Report. London: HMSO. 1980. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Paavola, Jouni (5 December 2017). "Health impacts of climate change and health and social inequalities in the UK". Environmental Health. 16 (1): 113. doi:10.1186/s12940-017-0328-z. ISSN 1476-069X. PMC 5773866. PMID 29219089.
- ^ a b "Greener NHS » Health and climate change". www.england.nhs.uk. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Rosane, Olivia (1 July 2020). "Chance of 40 Degree Celsius Days in UK 'Rapidly Increasing' Due to Climate Crisis". Ecowatch. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
- ^ "Climate change in the UK". Met Office. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ Carrington, Damian (22 May 2024). "'Never-ending' UK rain made 10 times more likely by climate crisis, study says". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2024.