England’s health improved slightly during Covid’s second year, according to official statistics today.
Yet it was still below pre-pandemic levels.
Well-being, mental health and life satisfaction all took a turn for the worse in the early days of Covid, with dozens of studies blaming the effects of lockdown restrictions.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) annually measures the health of the country’s 307 authorities using more than 50 statistics.
The results – which are broken down geographically – are compared to a health version of GDP.
The figure shows health in England in 2021, using the ONS health index scores. It shows England’s overall health score of 100.8 and the score in each category: healthy people (97.7), healthy lives (100.2) and healthy places (104.2). The chart also includes scores for 14 subcategories, such as difficulties in daily living, mental health and access to green space, which are factored into the three categories. The colored squares represent the 56 indicators measured for each subcategory, such as self-harm, suicide, and mental health problems, and whether the numbers are the same as 2015 levels (grey), worse (orange or red), or better (light). blue or dark blue)
The ONS chart shows five of the categories used to measure health in England and how they have changed in 2021 compared to 2020. Improvements have been noted in physical health status, well-being and mortality
The graph shows the three domains of the Health Index covering ‘Healthy People’, ‘Healthy Living’ and ‘Healthy Places’
While overall levels are still below pre-pandemic levels, living conditions have steadily increased over the past three years
It said the uptick could “partly reflect the easing of lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollouts,” as well as a drop in air pollution.
Blackpool has been named the unhealthiest district for the fifth year in a row.
Meanwhile, Harrogate is the healthiest, according to the data, which has been compiled from gold standard surveys and government figures.
A interactive tool allows you to look up the health score in your area.
The ONS assigns all local authorities in England a ‘health score’ of 100, measuring the same figure each year.
Fifty-six indicators, such as life satisfaction, cancer rates and unemployment, are assessed.
These are then grouped into three broad categories: ‘healthy people’, ‘healthy lives’ and ‘healthy places’.
The ONS said these statistics are based on the World Health Organization’s definition of health, which takes into account physical, mental and social well-being.
The results show that overall people’s health improved significantly, an increase of 2.1 points.
In 2020 there was a significant decrease (4.1 points), meaning that 2021 remained well below pre-pandemic levels.
Last year, ONS analysts claimed the 2020 downturn would have been fueled by the pandemic, which had “significant impacts on many aspects of health.”
For 2021 there was a huge improvement in personal well-being (7.5 points), mortality (1.6) and physical health status (1.2).
On the other hand, healthy living fell by 1.2 points, after a similar decline in 2020.
Of the 307 boroughs in England, Blackpool has the worst health (76.5 points) according to the ONS.
It is followed by Kingston upon Hill (77.5), Liverpool (79.9) and Middlesbrough (80.2).
At the other end of the scale, people in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, are the healthiest (124.9), followed by Rutland (124.6), Elmbridge (124.1) and Waverley (123.1).
Greg Ceely, chief statistician at ONS, said the index shows how the pandemic has affected many aspects of our health.
He noted that the easing of lockdown restrictions and the rollout of vaccines were likely to lead to improvements in personal well-being, mortality rates and physical health.
Mr Ceely said: ‘The Healthy Lives score, which reflects the behaviors and conditions that affect our health, has continued to fall in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Healthy Places category saw continued improvement, largely due to reduced air pollution and household overcrowding.
“We will continue to collect and analyze the data to better understand health trends in 2021 and beyond.
“In the meantime, we encourage everyone to try our Health Index online tool to discover how health has changed in their area.”