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Sign in or register for an accountHealthy Life Expectancy (HLE) reflects not only how long people live, but how long they live in good health. Unlike life expectancy, which is based solely on mortality data, HLE incorporates self‑reported health status, making it a more meaningful measure of population wellbeing.
Increasing life expectancy is only beneficial if additional years are lived in good health; otherwise, longer lives may simply extend the time people spend in poor health and increase the burden on individuals, families and services. Monitoring HLE enables public health teams to target resources effectively to reduce ill health, disability and the number of years lived in poor health. When interpreted alongside other indicators, HLE provides essential context for local authorities to assess wider evidence and identify the drivers of healthy life expectancy.
The most recent data (2022-24) shows that male HLE at birth in Salford was 57.2 years, similar to both England (60.9 years) and the North West (58.3). Salford men also live a greater proportion of their lives in poor health. A boy born in 2022-24 could expect to live 25.4% of their life in poor health, compared with 23.4% nationally and 25.2% regionally.
Longer term, Salford’s HLE has remained broadly static, falling slightly from 57.2 years in 2011-13 to 56.4 years in 2021-23 but then back to 57.2 years in 2022-24. Progress made prior to the pandemic has been reversed, with the latest figure now 3.7% lower than 2017-19 (59.4 years).The persistent gap indicates that Salford’s male population experiences more years in not good health than national averages, highlighting an ongoing need to address the underlying drivers of ill health and health inequalities.
For Salford women the picture is similar. In 2022-24 Salford women had a HLE at birth of 58.2 years, similar to both England (61.3) and North West (59.2). Women in Salford also spend a larger share of their lives in poor health than national and regional averages. A girl born in 2022-243 could expect to live 28.1% of their lives in not good health compared to 26.4% and 27.7% in England and North West respectively.
Over the long term, female HLE in Salford has shown little overall change, going from 57.9 years in 2011-13 to 58.2 years in 2022-24. As with men, improvements made before the pandemic were reversed, with the latest figure 2.5% below the 2017-19 estimate (59.7 years). This continuing gap indicates that Salford women are living fewer healthy years than their counterparts elsewhere, underscoring the importance of addressing the wider determinants of health and reducing inequalities across the life course.
Healthy life expectancy has fallen in recent years, with Salford seeing an improvement in the latest period.
[Download the healthy life expectancy trend chart data (cvs format, 6kb)]
Although Salford women generally live longer than male counterparts, and have a greater number of years in good health, they spend a greater proportion of their life in poor health. As mentioned above, in 2022-24, Salford women were expected to spend over 28% of their life in not good health compared to 25% for men. Therefore, longer life for Salford women, has not translated into a healthier life, highlighting gendered health inequalities and the need for targeted prevention, earlier diagnosis, and improved management of long-term conditions. However, the lower proportion of unhealthy years among men partly reflects their shorter life expectancy.
Many Salford men die earlier, before reaching the ages at which long periods of poor health typically accumulate. As a result, the smaller share of life spent in poor health is partly attributable to earlier mortality rather than better underlying health. Improving outcomes for men must therefore focus not only on increasing life expectancy but also on ensuring that any additional years are lived in good health.
Some local analysis of HLE has been carried out using self‑reported health data from the 2021 Census to explore variation across Salford for the period 2022-24. While this approach differs from the official HLE methodology, which uses self-reported health from the Annual Population Survey, it has been used alongside the published figure to help apply appropriate weighting to Salford’s wards. Little Hulton had the lowest HLE for both males and females across Salford’s 20 wards (note: figures could not be calculated for the Quays due to no recorded deaths in the 90+ age group). Compared with residents of Boothstown and Ellenbrook, males in Little Hulton could expect to live 15.2 fewer years and females 15.9 fewer years in good health.
Local estimates of healthy life expectancy vary by around 15 years between wards in Salford.
[Download the healthy life expectancy map data (cvs format, 2kb)]
In terms of the proportion of life spent in poor health, 31.2% of a male resident’s life in Little Hulton was expected to be lived in less than good health. For females, the proportion was slightly higher at 33.2%. In Pendleton & Charlestown 33.3% of a female’s life could be lived in not good health. These figures were 11.6 percentage points higher for males and 12.2 percentage points higher for females than those in Boothstown and Ellenbrook. Across Salford, eight wards recorded HLE for males that was significantly lower than the city average in 2022–24, while nine wards fell below the average for females. Conversely, seven wards reported significantly higher HLE for males, and eight did so for females over the same period.
These patterns correspond closely with the distribution of deprivation within the city. Wards including Little Hulton, Pendleton and Charlestown, Ordsall, and Broughton had poorer outcomes, reflecting higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. In contrast, wards such as Walkden South, Worsley and Westwood Park, and Boothstown and Ellenbrook displayed more favourable HLE, aligning with their comparatively lower levels of deprivation.
National and regional data show that while life expectancy has remained relatively stable since 2011-13, HLE for both males and females has declined to its lowest point in the series, indicating more years spent in poorer health. Salford has followed a broadly similar long‑term pattern, but with a notable recent divergence.
Between 2021-23 and 2022-24, HLE in Salford increased by 0.8 years for both sexes. Although this rise is not statistically significant, it contrasts with national and North West declines of 0.6 years nationally and 0.8 (males) and 0.7 years (females) regionally. As a result, while neither life expectancy nor HLE in Salford has improved over the period, the city has avoided the deterioration in the proportion of years spent in good health seen elsewhere. Nevertheless, Salford’s 2022-24 HLE value was in the 3rd most deprived decile in England for both males and females.
This position is closely aligned with broader patterns in the North of England, where socioeconomic disadvantage contributes to lower healthy life expectancy. The North West region had the third lowest HLE in England behind other northern regions of North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. Conversely, London, the South East and South West had the highest HLE values in England. This regional context matters for Salford. As a northern urban authority, its HLE outcomes need to be understood within a wider landscape where the North continues to experience markedly poorer health than the South. These regional inequalities are also reflected within Salford itself: more deprived wards show worse HLE outcomes, mirroring national patterns.
At a national level HLE shows a strong socioeconomic gradient. In 2022-24, HLE at birth in the most deprived areas was 49.8 and 48.2 years for males and females, compared with 69.2 and 68.5 years, respectively, in the least deprived areas. This equates to an inequality gap of approximately 19-20 years for both males and females. While HLE by deprivation decile is not available at Salford level, these national figures provide important context for understanding local inequalities.
Taken together, this highlights that Salford’s HLE challenges are shaped by long‑standing regional and socioeconomic disparities at the city, neighbourhood and small area levels.
International evidence reinforces this view. Most high‑income countries have maintained or increased HLE. By contrast, the UK saw the second steepest decline between 2011 and 2021, falling from fourteenth to twentieth out of 21 countries, ahead of only the United States. This suggests that falling HLE is not inevitable and may be responsive to effective public‑health interventions and system‑level changes.
A key factor contributing to the lowest recorded levels of HLE observed nationally in 2022-24 was the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Whilst Salford has shown some limited evidence of recovery, the pandemic also widened existing geographic and socio-economic inequalities. Compared with 2017-19 the gap between the 97.5th and 2.5th percentiles in the UK has increased by 2.5 years for males and by 3.3 years for females. Since the time series began in 2011-13, this was the largest gap yet observed for males, and the joint-largest for females.
For Salford, where more deprived wards experience significantly poorer health outcomes, this means COVID‑19 has likely intensified these established inequalities through additional pressures such as disrupted healthcare access, delayed diagnoses, and rising chronic illness and mental health burdens.
In contrast to falling or stagnating HLE at birth the trajectory at age 65 is markedly different, particularly for females. Since 2011-13, HLE at age 65 in Salford has increased to 8.2 years for males (7.9% rise) and to 9.4 years for females (13.3% rise). This compares to HLE for males in England and the North West rose only slightly to 10.1 years (1.0% rise) and 9.0 years (no change), while females saw increases to 11.1 years (2.8% rise) and 10.2 years (4.1% rise) respectively. Whilst this may reflect better survival and treatment outcomes in older adults it also indicates that younger adults are experiencing worsening or stagnant health. This raises concerns that future cohorts may reach older age in comparatively poorer health, even as the current older population experience advancements.
It is important to note that HLE relies on self-reported health from the Annual Population Survey. Therefore, the calculation is subject to inconsistency and bias between different population groups as perceptions of health can vary and influence responses. There have also been recent reductions in sample size which has meant that confidence intervals have widened and precision has reduced, particularly at smaller geographies.
Between 2011-13, Salford males had confidence intervals of plus 2.2 years, while females ranged from minus 2.5 to plus 2.4 years around the estimate. By 2022-24, these intervals had widened to ±4.7 years for males and plus five years for females. This means that uncertainty around the estimate has grown over time and should be interpreted with more caution than earlier estimates.
An overall goal of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England is to halve the gap in HLE between the richest and poorest regions, while increasing it for everyone. Whilst this is a national goal this is equally relevant to Salford given its persistent health inequalities. Achieving this goal will require a strong focus on prevention, with several priority actions consequently recommended:
There are also national initiatives from central government with the aim of improving HLE such as the ban on smoking so that children turning 16 since 2025 can never legally be sold tobacco, restrictions on junk food advertising and placing a neighbourhood health centre in every community where HLE is lowest. There is also the ambition to harness digital technology, making it accessible for everyone, to improve patients access to and experience of care.