It could take as long as 50 years for the gap in healthy life expectancy between the north and south of England to close, a think-tank has warned.
The Institute for Public Policy North has said the north of England could face five decades of lower healthy life expectancy compared with the more prosperous south east.
It could be 2080 before the gap in healthy life expectancy – or the average number of years a person can expect to live in good health – really changes.
The gap between the north and England overall will not close until 2056/57, while the gap between the north and the south east is set to endure until 2079/80, it predicted. The gap between the north and London was on course to keep growing on current trends.
As a result, the IPPR is calling for “German-style levels” of investment in England’s regions – to the tune of £7.6bn a year over the next 15 years – to help tackle the problem. This could be funded by raising up to £13bn a year through a targeted wealth tax, the institute argued.
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The State of the North report found the number of years a person can “expect to live in good health” in the north and Midlands will be two-and-a-half years shorter than the south, and three-and-a-half years shorter than in London by 2030.
“Extending these overall trajectories, the gap in healthy life expectancy between the North and the all-England average would not close until 2056/57 while the gap between the North and South East would endure until 2079/80, and the gap between the North and London would grow,” it said.
To break this cycle, the report called for “transformative action” to “realise the full potential of our regions”.
Report author and IPPR North research fellow Marcus Johns said: “No one should be condemned to live a shorter, sicker, less fulfilling, or poorer life simply because of where they were born.
“Yet, that is what our regional inequalities offer today as gaps in healthy life expectancy and wealth endure over the generations, demanding urgent action if we are to change course.
“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion we are headed in the wrong direction on inequality in health, wealth, power, and opportunity while local government finances languish in chaos,” he added.
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