Results: Life Expectancy

In England, the average male life expectancy is 79.3 years. This varies dramatically by local area. Blackpool has the lowest male life expectancy at 74.3 years, whereas South Cambridgeshire has the highest at 83.0 years.

Areas with the lowest life expectancies must recognise the challenge facing them and include a high number of gendered measures in their JSNAs given the clear threat posed to men’s health.

The table lists the areas with the lowest male life expectancies and the corresponding number of gendered measures in their JSNA. Where a local authority has one of the lowest male life expectancies, it does not necessarily translate into a JSNA with a high number of gendered measures.

Corby has one of the worst male life expectancy at 77.1 years yet Northamptonshire’s JSNA contains just six gendered measures, just 14% of ts JSNA. Given that Corby has such a low male life expectancy, men’s health indicators should be a key part of Northamptonshire’s JSNA.

Lancashire County Council covers two districts with particularly low male life expectancies:

Hyndburn (76.4)
Burnley (75.6)

Nevertheless Lancashire’s JSNA contains just 14 gendered measures, 40% of its JSNA. Improvements to men’s health and male life expectancy cannot be expected until local authorities begin to address men’s health as part of their JSNAs and translate this into the commissioning of services.

In spite of this, there are positive signs and prospects for improvement in poorly-gendered JSNAs.

Sandwell in the West Midlands has a male life expectancy of just 77 years, the eighth lowest in England. But, it has included 21 gendered measures in its JSNA, a proportion of 78%.

Sandwell’s JSNA demonstrates that the data is available. Its approach can be used as a yardstick for other local authorities, especially in areas of poor male life expectancy.

Three other local authorities have recognised the poor male life expectancy in their area and have reflected this as part of their JSNA:

Hastings has a male life expectancy of 77.2 and the East Sussex JSNA has 20 gendered measures.

Kingston upon Hull has a life expectancy of 76.6 and includes 20 gendered measures in its JSNA.

Leicester has a male life expectancy of 77.2 and has 21 gendered measures in its JSNA.

This demonstrates that local authorities should be able to create a JSNA which effectively highlights the health needs of males in their local area.

Gendered Measures in Areas With Lowest Male Life Expectancy

Area	Life Expectancy	Gendered Measures	%age
Blackpool	74.3	19	45%
Manchester	75.5	10	43%
Burnley	75.6	14	40%
Liverpool	76.2	12	40%
Hyndburn	76.4	14	40%
Stoke on Trent	76.5	16	44%
Salford	76.6	11	31%
Hull	76.6	20	60%
Middlesbrough	76.7	9	25%
Knowsley	76.7	13	54%
South Tyneside	76.8	9	35%
Blackburn	76.8	16	44%
Barrow in Furness	76.9	10	11%
Tameside	76.9	5	24%
Nottingham	77.0	16	36%
Sandwell	77.0	21	78%
Corby	77.1	6	14%
Rochdale	77.2	10	24%
Leicester	77.2	21	48%
Hastings	77.2	20	59%

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.