The gulf between the best and worst places to live in the UK has been laid bare by new research from the International Longevity Centre (ILC), whose Better Lives Index ranks local authorities on everything from child poverty and life expectancy to housing affordability and older-age outcomes.
The findings highlight stark geographic divides. In the top-ranked areas, child poverty averages just 12%, compared with 29% in the bottom group and more than 40% in Oldham, Pendle and Bradford.
Life expectancy at birth is, on average, four years longer in better-off areas, with the widest gap nine years between Richmond upon Thames (85) and Blackpool (76).
Disposable income provides another sharp contrast. Households in the best-performing 20% of areas – largely in southern England – earn over £10,000 more after tax than those in the lowest 20%. Economic activity is also higher, while house prices are far less affordable: typically 12.2 times local earnings in the top group versus 6.2 in the bottom.
STRETCHED AFFORDABILITY
The top of the Index features St Albans, South Cambridgeshire, Harborough, and London boroughs such as Barnet and Bromley – all scoring highly on jobs, income and low child poverty.
But even these areas face challenges: housing affordability is stretched, with ratios as high as 16 times earnings in Barnet and Wandsworth, and mortality rates in Croydon and Hammersmith nearly double those in Hart.
At the other end, the “toughest” places to be born, grow up and grow old cover 14.4 million people across Wales, Northern Ireland, the South West of Scotland, and parts of northern England and the Midlands. Child poverty is entrenched in Oldham, Pendle and Bradford, while avoidable mortality rates are almost twice as high in the lowest-ranked areas compared with the best.
INVESTMENT KEY TO PROGRESS
Yet the ILC points out that not all low-scoring areas perform badly on every measure. Parts of Wales, for example, achieve comparatively strong life expectancy despite low incomes. This, researchers argue, shows that lessons can be learned – and targeted investment could unlock progress.
The Index concludes that place still plays a defining role in life chances. Without new policy approaches, it warns, the UK risks entrenching inequalities that directly shape not just incomes and housing, but health, opportunity and longevity itself.
Read the full paper HERE.
