Daily Junction.mobi portal

Search News World Business Tech TV Weather Stars More

Britain’s quarter century: experts in sex…

Health · August 17, 2026 · The Conversation · 17 min

How has the UK’s health changed since 2001?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kev-stone-2732737">Kev Stone</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-wales-1586">University of South Wales</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-dearlove-2732755">David Dearlove</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/nesta-3945">Nesta</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-hamilton-103994">Ian Hamilton</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-york-1344">University of York</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jurin-katayama-flores-2732756">Jurin Katayama-Flores</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/nesta-3945">Nesta</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lydia-leon-2732760">Lydia Leon</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/nesta-3945">Nesta</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-murphy-2732741">Michael Murphy</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science-1219">London School of Economics and Political Science</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-vicary-461313">Sarah Vicary</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/soazig-clifton-2732793">Soazig Clifton</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/ucl-1885">UCL</a>

In this fourth part in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/britains-quarter-century-190802">our series</a> on how the UK has changed in the past 25 years, we look at health.

<h2>Life expectancy and illness</h2>

Michael Murphy, Emeritus Professor of Demography, London School of Economics

A good way to follow the health of a nation is to glance at what is known as period life-expectancy. This calculates how long a person born today would live if the current death rates remained exactly the same for the rest of their life. This had two major turning points in the UK over the period: a marked slowdown in improvements from around 2011, and a sharp, historically unprecedented fall in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The slowdown in improvement from the early 2010s was part of a wider pattern across high-income countries. The UK and the other five largest of these nations, including France, Germany and Italy, experienced similar stagnation, although the UK’s was somewhat more persistent.

<hr>

How has the UK changed since the start of the century? From Blair to Burnham, from the dotcom era to AI agents, time has certainly not stood still. In this six-part series, a team of some 35 experts look at everything from defence spending to species populations to the rise of populism to try and make sense of the intervening years.

<hr>

The graph below also shows that contrary to frequent claims that the UK’s mortality performance is uniquely poor, its period life-expectancy gains were broadly similar to these comparator countries and the OECD average between 2000 and 2024. For example, France’s period life-expectancy increased by an annual average of only four days more than UK over that time.

Changing life-expectancy

<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Life expectancy across high-income countries 2000-25" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/740450/original/file-20260608-57-rnobes.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> <a class="source" href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN">World Bank Development Indicators</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a> </figcaption> </figure>

The most dramatic disruption occurred with the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#explore-our-data-on-covid-19">COVID 19 pandemic</a>. The UK’s 179,000 COVID-related deaths in 2020–21 represented the largest mortality shock since the second world war. As it turned out, the nation’s mortality rate peaked in 2020 and has fallen each year since. By 2024 it had returned to levels close to 2019, the lowest ever, and we’ve seen a similar trend across western Europe.

The long-term implications of the pandemic remain uncertain, but they are potentially severe and likely to affect all groups of society. Many people have experienced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/87a0c171-en">life-changing effects</a> from <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/27768">long COVID</a>. Evidence from earlier pandemics, including the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3682600/">1918–19 influenza pandemic</a>, also suggests that babies in their mothers’ wombs may have experienced long-term negative health effects from exposure to the virus.

Causes of death

Underlying these mortality trends in the UK are shifts in the major causes of death. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortality-profile-december-2025-update/mortality-profile-statistical-commentary-december-2025">In 2024</a> cardiovascular disease (26%), cancer (26%), respiratory disease (12%) and dementia (9%) accounted for three quarters of deaths in England.

Changes in cause of death classification make it difficult to see whether these have changed long term. But the early 2000s saw rapid declines in cardiovascular mortality, for instance, driven by improvements in treatment, prevention and reductions in smoking.

However, these <a href="https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-research/heart-statistics/heart-statistics-publications/cardiovascular-disease-statistics-2025">gains have slowed</a>, and since 2019 progress in reducing cardiovascular deaths has stalled. This reflects a combination of fewer medical breakthroughs in related chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and rising pressures on the health and social care systems.

More generally, changing risk factors will be important for the future. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33568116/">We’re smoking</a> much <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain/2024">less today</a>, from 26% of adults in 2001 to 11% in 2023, which reduces the scope for further mortality gains from tobacco controls.

In contrast, <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024/health-survey-for-england-2024-data-tables">obesity has become</a> the top lifestyle danger, with the proportion of adults classified as obese in England rising from 20% in 2001 to 30% in 2024. These trends imply a growing future burden of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and also certain cancers, with long lag times before the full effects are observed.

This rise in obesity will also be contributing to rising levels of non-fatal but disabling conditions. <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024/health-survey-for-england-2024-data-tables">As many as</a> 26% of adults <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024/health-survey-for-england-2024-data-tables">report chronic pain</a>, and half of those report high-impact pain (meaning long-term pain that severely limits your ability to function in daily life). Low back pain is now the leading cause of years lived with disability in the UK, mirroring global trends.

Page 1 of 5 · Next »

Home · Search · Sitemap · About · Full site