ESRC Society Today - The UK by Numbers: Health and wellbeing

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The UK by Numbers: Health and wellbeing

Here we present an at-a-glance overview of the key issues in Britain today, focusing on health and wellbeing. All statistics are from the Office of National Statistics unless stated.

Life expectancy

Life Expectancy at Birth
Gender	1980-82	1985-87	1990-92	1995-97	2000-02	2005-07
Female	76	77.5	78	79	80.5	81.5
Male	70.5	72	73	74.5	75	76.5

77: The age a boy born today in Britain is expected to live to. The figure is 82 for girls - eight years longer than 25 years ago.
2,462: per million males and 1,559 per million females died of circulatory diseases such as heart disease or stroke in 2006, almost two-thirds less than in 1971.

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver" - Mahatma Gandhi

Diet

Consumption of fruit and vegetables in the home
by income grouping of UK household, 2005/06, grams per person per week
	Income Top Fifth	Income Bottom Fifth
Processed fruit and fruit products	550	390
Fresh fruit	950	810
Processed potates and potato products	200	230
Fresh potatoes	450	680
Processed vegetables	370	380
Fresh green vegetables	230	220
Other fresh vegetables	610	550

62 %: of adults and 30 per cent of children in the UK are overweight, with 24 per cent of adults and 16 per cent of children obese - the highest obesity rate in Europe.
32 %: of women in the bottom fifth income distribution are obese compared to 19 per cent in the top fifth. Men are no more likely to be overweight, but there is a slight increase in obesity.
1 in 3: adults in the UK will be obese by 2012 (Source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health)

"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not" - Mark Twain

Happiness and satisfaction

Satisfaction with standard of living by age, 2007, England (Source: Omnibus Survey, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
	Very satisfied	Fairly satisfied	Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	Fairly dissatisfied	Very dissatisfied
16-21	34	49	13	4	0
22-29	26	58	10	4	2
30-39	26	54	12	6	2
40-49	28	56	9	5	1
50-59	32	52	9	6	2
60 & over	34	55	6	3	1

77 %: of men report that they are satisfied with their life overall. The figure is lower among women at 75 per cent. These figures are almost exactly the same as they were a decade ago.
5,377: The number of suicides in adults aged 15 and over. This is 167 less than in 2006 (5,544) and 940 less than in 1991 (6,317).

Percentage of men and women who consider item to be important for their own quality of life
(Source: British Household Panel Survey, 1997 and 2002)
	Health	Family	Finance	Happiness	Friends	Leisure	Home comforts	Employment
Women aged 15-25	36	51	40	31	35	11	18	20
Men aged 15-25	30	35	43	27	31	19.5	18	23
Women aged over 65	61	35	20	18	20	21	11	2
Men aged over 65	61	28	28	18	11	23	10.5	2

"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory" - Albert Schweitzer

Sexual health

Usual method of contraception (%) in 2004/05
by women aged 16 to 49, Great Britain
Contraceptive Pill	Sterilisation	Male condom
25	22	22

750,000: people in Britain were treated for sexually transmitted diseases last year, and one in ten sexually active adults is estimated to have Chlamydia (Source: NHS Online)
41,768: The amount of girls aged 15-17 from England and Wales falling pregnant in 2006 - 13.3 per cent less than in 1998.

Drinking and smoking

Alcohol-related death rate, UK 1991-2007
age standardised rates per 100,000 population
	1991	1993	1995	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005	2007
Female	5	5	6	6.5	7.5	8	8	8.5	9
Male	9.5	9.5	11.5	13	14.5	16.5	18	18	17.5

33 %: of men and 29 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 were smokers in 2006, compared to 13 per cent of men aged 60 and over and 12 per cent of women aged 60 and over.

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