Health profile of England 2008
On 27 January 2009, the Department of Health published the third national health profile of England which details improvements in critical areas of the nation's health. Death rates from cancer, heart disease and suicides continue to decline, whilst life expectancy is higher than ever and infant mortality at its lowest.
The profile provides a collection of national and regional data to be used as a benchmark against which local areas can compare their own health profile data. The report’s key findings reveal encouraging trends:
- declining mortality rates in targeted killers (cancers, all circulatory diseases and suicides);
- increasing life expectancy, now at its highest ever level;
- reducing infant mortality, now at its lowest ever level;
- declining numbers of people who smoke;
- increases in physical activity levels and fruit and vegetable consumption.
However, other findings highlight areas for improvement:
- increasing levels of obesity in adults and children;
- geographical inequalities across the country, with a clear north/south divide.
Similarly, international comparisons, specifically to the 15 countries that were members of the EU prior to 2004 (EU-15), show that:
- premature mortality rates from cancer for males have fallen substantially faster over the last 30 years than the EU-15 average and are now among the lowest in the EU-15;
- the prevalence of obesity in England is the highest in the EU-15 countries, and one of the highest in the wider cohort of OECD countries.
Health profile of England 2008
