175 years on, study finds where you live still determines your life expectancy

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Research led by the University of Liverpool has revisited a study carried out 175 years ago which compared the health and life expectancy of people in different parts of the country, including Liverpool, to see if its findings still held true. They found that stark differences still exist and that people living in Liverpool still had lower life expectancy than those living in the rural area of Rutland.

The original study into sanitation conditions by Edwin Chadwick in 1842 charted the average age by death and by occupational group for five areas in the UK – Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester Bolton and Rutland, a rural county in Eastern England.

The findings revealed a strong correlation between where you lived, what your job was and the age you lived to.  This was the first study to demonstrate the huge geographical differences in health and life circumstances. It showed that a labourer in Rutland could expect to live a longer life than a professional tradesman in Liverpool.

Research led by the University’s Department of Geography & Planning undertook a similar analysis using data from the Office of National Statistics and the 2011 census. to see if the same pattern still persisted.

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