The healthy life expectancy gap in Greater Manchester ‘isn’t closing’, an expert has claimed after new figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Different from life expectancy, this ONS study reveals the number of years people are expected to spend in “good” general health across the UK.

Whilst life expectancy has increased since the pandemic, the years that people could expect to spend in good health have decreased.

For Greater Manchester, Trafford tops the list for both men and women in the region, followed by Stockport and Bury.

Rochdale has the lowest expectancy for both men and women among the boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Men in Trafford could expect 63.8 years of health, whereas the expectancy for men in Rochdale is 53.8 years

For women, Trafford residents can expect 65.2 years of health, compared to only 54.2 years for women in Rochdale.

Dr Jamie O’Halloran, senior research fellow at IPPR, said that the figures show that where you live determines how many years you spend in good health, and that the gap “isn’t closing”.

He added: “Reforming the NHS and bringing care closer to communities can help reduce health inequalities, but most of what shapes our physical and mental health lies outside the health system.

“Without tackling those root causes, we won’t see the gains we need.”  

These figures are impacted by different factors, including behaviour and diet, but are largely underpinned by environmental conditions such as housing and poverty.

Rochdale Borough Council said that the figures are largely calculated on self-reported data, but did concede that chronic conditions are the “biggest drivers” in their area.

A spokesperson for the council said: “We also know these conditions are more prevalent in areas of higher deprivation, which our borough is impacted by more so than elsewhere in Greater Manchester.

“We are committed to improving this and are already making strides with a proactive and whole-system approach to population health management based on prevention, early identification and management.

“We have seen recent success with our new community health checks programme, which is a borough-wide offer that focuses on identifying cardiovascular disease and diabetes early.”

The council said they plan to work with different healthcare and charity partners to “improve the life prospects of all residents.”

Trafford Council did not reply to a request to comment, but they do offer a range of schemes to help residents in the borough.

The initiatives offered in Trafford include open-air gyms in parks across the borough, and affordable fitness and wellbeing activities provided by Trafford Leisure.

One of the biggest health issues in Greater Manchester is heart and circulatory diseases, and data from the British Heart Foundation has revealed the latest figures.

Someone dies of a cardiovascular disease every 75 minutes in Greater Manchester, and around 340,000 people in the area are living with one of these diseases as of last year.

Behavioural data says that around 30% of Manchester adults have obesity, and around 36% do not meet the physical activity recommendations.

15% of adults smoke in the region.

This behavioural data does reveal a contrast in different boroughs of the city.

For instance, in Trafford, the obesity rate is only 17%, and 34% do not meet the exercise recommendations.

In Rochdale, for comparison, the obesity rate is 31%, and 41% of adults do not meet the activity recommendation.

Despite boroughs like Trafford and Stockport having a higher expectancy than others, Greater Manchester as a whole remains lower than the national average.

For the period 2022 to 2024, men across the UK could expect to spend an average of 60.7 years (77% of life) in “good” general health, compared with 60.9 years (73%) for women.

This was a decrease of 1.8 and 2.5 years, respectively, compared with the last report from 2011 to 2013.

The statistics show that there is a clear disparity in life expectancies based on location.

Regions in Southern England had the highest healthy life expectancies, whereas the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West had the lowest.

Featured image credit: Adrian Taylor (Wikimedia Commons)