People are living longer in the UK

Life expectancy in Britain has increased at a slower rate than most of our European neighbours – thanks to our poor record on cancer survival and high levels of obesity.


Survival rates for breast, bowel and cervical cancer are among the worst in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents industrialised nations.

Britain's low survival rates for some forms of the disease are partly to blame for a slower increase in life expectancy in the UK compared to Europe. The UK's poor performance is also down to our high levels of obesity which lead to many deadly conditions like heart disease. This comes despite the fact that Britain spends more than the average OECD country on health.

The organisation’s report found that the average Briton enjoys an extra 9.6 years of life than they did in 1960. But this is far less impressive than the rise of 12 years seen in Italy and Spain.

An OECD’s report named "Healthcare at a Glance" also found:
UK men are still the fattest in Europe, although British women have been overtaken in the obesity stakes by Ireland;

The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan (83). British women can expect to live to the age of 82.5 – up 8.8 years in the past 50 years, but lower than any country in Western Europe except Denmark.  Men have a life expectancy of 78.3 years – up 10.4 years.