A new report from Public Health England has found that women in the UK are expected to live for 82 years and nine months - the second shortest life expectancy in Western Europe.
The research found that women in Denmark have the lowest life expectancy whereas women in Spain have the highest. According to their report, Spanish women are likely to live three years longer than women here in the UK. Even more depressing is the fact that the average British woman spends 19 years of her life in poor health.
The stats come as quite a shock considering the UK supposedly has one of Europe’s best free healthcare systems, and greater economic growth than a number of our neighbours. However, experts believe this lower life expectancy could be attributed to the long-lasting effects of the smoking epidemic started during the Second World War.
Professor Peter Goldblatt, of University College London's Institute of Health Equity, told The Sun on Sunday: ‘Women in this country started smoking in large numbers during the Second World War when they began to work in factories. So the epidemic of smoking among women happened earlier [in Britain] than among women in other European countries.’
Goldblatt explained that this increase in number of lung cancer and respiratory disease sufferers have upped the mortality rates in this country, and therefore reduced the current life expectancy.
The research also highlighted how wealth does really equal health, with women who live in deprived areas living on average seven years less than those who live in wealthier ones.
‘For most people the ingredients for a healthy life are a good education, a good job, a healthy diet, a suitable roof over your head and people to care for and about,’ Public Health England commented.
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