According to a study carried out by Newcastle University, the life expectancy in the UK which had been sluggish even before 2016 has witnessed another setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The repercussion of the pandemic will further negate all the gains made by the country to enhance life expectancy.
The study stated that post-financial crisis period after 2011, the UK performed poorly in almost all measures compared to the 28 countries of the European Union.
Life expectancy at birth and age of 65, in the UK, was increasing rapidly in 2008 but slowed around 2011, and Germany, Portugal, and France showed evidence of a similar slowing.
Healthy Life Years
Furthermore, years of good health, called Healthy Life Years at birth in the UK decreased, whereas it increased in most EU countries. The UK experienced a period of absolute expansion of unhealthy life in both older men and women.
The authors, led byClaire Welsh at Newcastle University, suggested the reasons for the decline may include cuts to public spending on health and social care under austerity, increasing mortality rates from seasonal influenza combined with more frequent extremes of temperature, among others.
Welsh said in the study: “Given that other countries in the EU have already achieved higher life expectancy than the UK, it seems unlikely that the deceleration in the UK is due to being close to any natural maximum lifespan of human beings. This suggests that our health and social care system was under strain even before the effects of Covid-19.”
The findings of the study were published in the journal Lancet.