{"id":2667,"date":"2026-02-20T13:02:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/?p=2667"},"modified":"2026-02-25T15:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T15:32:49","slug":"map-reveals-the-uk-areas-with-healthiest-life-expectancy-and-the-worst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/map-reveals-the-uk-areas-with-healthiest-life-expectancy-and-the-worst\/","title":{"rendered":"Map reveals the UK areas with \u2018healthiest\u2019 life expectancy \u2014 and the worst"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"The\t<\/div>
The Orkney Islands are the best place for your health (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you’re like us, you might be a little hyper-aware of your mortality<\/a> at the moment, what with the losses of brilliant stars like Catherine O’Hara<\/a> at just 71, and Eric Dane<\/a> at only 53.<\/p>\n

So it may come as little surprise to learn that the healthy life expectancy for both boys and girls born from 2022 to 2024 has decreased by more than two years.<\/p>\n

This makes it the lowest healthy life expectancy on record, with children now only expected to be ‘healthy’ until 61, according to ONS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Guys born in the UK during this time can expect to spend 77% of their life in ‘good’ general health<\/a>, a decrease of 1.8 years compared to men born from 2019 to 2021.<\/p>\n

Women born at the same time will now typically spend 73% of their lifespan in good health, a huge 2.5 year decrease from women born from 2019 to 2021.<\/p>\n

But it’s not just when <\/em>you’re born that could have an impact on your health, there are certain places in the UK that are better to grow old in than others, too.<\/p>\n

Where has the lowest healthy life expectancy?<\/h2>\n

For men, those with the shortest healthy life expectancy are from Blackpool<\/a>. Here, boys born from 2022 to 2024 will typically have good health until the average age of 50.9.<\/p>\n

This is a significant drop from the healthy life expectancy of 55.6 that men born from 2013 to 2015 in Blackpool<\/a> can expect.<\/p>\n

Merthyr Tydfil, just north of Cardiff<\/a>, is the place where women born from 22 to 24 have the shortest healthy life span, with good health typically ending at 50.1 years of age.<\/p>\n

It seems hard to believe, given that girls born there from 2017 to 2019 are expected to have good health until at least 58.1.<\/p>\n

Where has the highest healthy life expectancy?<\/h2>\n

When it comes to where in the UK both men and women are likely to be healthy the longest, it’s the Orkney Islands<\/a> which take the crown.<\/p>\n

Boys born from 2022 to 2024 here will likely be in good health until the ripe age of 72.9, while women here put this to shame, with their health expected to decline only after the age of 74.1.<\/p>\n

The Shetland Islands<\/a> are also extremely healthy, with women here staying in good health until 70.8, while 68.3 is the age for men.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Old\t<\/div>
The Orkney Islands have the healthiest residents (Picture: Getty Images\/imageBROKER RF)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The London<\/a> borough of Richmond upon Thames<\/a> also sees longer healthy life expectancies for men and women, with the ages being 69.3 and 70.3 respectively.<\/p>\n

Ever so slightly further west, women from Wokingham<\/a>, are also in good health with it expected to last until the age of 69.4, although this is down from the high of 72.6 for those born from 2019 to 2021.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture<\/h2>\n

Taking a step back, these new ONS stats show that despite Orkney being the ultimate place to stay in good health, it’s England which has the highest healthy life expectancy overall.<\/p>\n

This was the case for both men and women, with guys averaging the age of 60.9 years, and ladies averaging 61.3 years.<\/p>\n

Scotland<\/a> has the lowest average of healthy men, with good health lasting until 59.1 years, while Wales<\/a> has the lowest average for women, with a healthy life expectancy of 58.5 years.<\/p>\n

Overall, our health as a nation is declining, with our healthy lifespans declining across 83% of the UK for men, and 88% for women.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Orkney Islands are the best place for your health (Picture: Getty Images) If you’re like us, you might be a little hyper-aware of your mortality at the moment, what with the losses of brilliant stars like Catherine O’Hara at just 71, and Eric Dane at only 53. So it may come as little surprise to learn that the healthy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2667"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2672,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions\/2672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/naturallywoodcreations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}