Health Inequalities in Wales

Wales continues to experience significant and persistent health inequalities. These inequalities reflect wider social and economic conditions - including income, housing, employment, education, and community environments - that shape people’s opportunities for good health throughout their lives.

There are two key measures of health inequality: Life expectancy - a measure of how long we can expect to live from birth - and healthy life expectancy - which tells us how many of those years we are expected to be in good health. There are clear differences in bothlife expectancy and healthy life expectancy across socioeconomic and geographic divides in Wales.

Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Expectancy

Life Expectancy Trends

Life expectancy in Wales has been affected by long‑term stagnation and the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Government analysis shows that life expectancy has fallen for the second period in a row, with declines observed for both sexes in recent years. The most recent published figures from Public Health Wales (2018–20 data) show Life Expectancy of 82 years for females and 78 years for males.

Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE)

Healthy life expectancy in Wales has also worsened over time. Welsh Government reports note that HLE has fallen since earlier periods, for both males and females. Public Health Wales’ most recent dataset (2018–20) shows Healthy Life Expectancy of 62 years for females, and 61 years for males. In Wales, males spend 78.5% of their lives in good health, compared with 76.0% for females.

Regional Inequalities

Deep inequalities exist between the most and least deprived populations in Wales. Inequalities in life expectancy have increased in recent years for both men and women. In 2018 to 2020, male life expectancy at birth in the most deprived areas in Wales was 74.1 years compared with 81.6 years in the least deprived areas; the same comparison among females was 78.4 years and 84.7 years respectively.

The gap in healthy life expectancy has remained relatively stable, but remains large - with the inequality gap over three and a half years larger for females than for males. Males and females in more deprived communities have substantially fewer years of good health.

There are huge regional inequalities in healthy life expectancy. Male healthy life expectancy at birth in 2018 to 2020 was 54.2 years in the most deprived areas compared with 67.6 years in the least deprived areas; for females, the same comparison was 53.3 and 70.2 years, respectively.

Wales has smaller inequality gaps than Scotland and England on average, but still significant differences driven by socioeconomic conditions.

Underlying Causes

Analyses by Public Health Wales highlight systemic drivers including: Low wage growth; Fuel poverty and food insecurity; Long‑term impacts of austerity; and Rising cost of living pressures. These conditions disproportionately affect lower‑income households, limiting their ability to maintain basic health‑supporting necessities such as food, heating, and stable housing.

Conclusion

These patterns make clear that health inequalities in Wales are deeply entrenched and closely tied to socioeconomic disadvantage. As shown by the persistent gaps in both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived communities, deprivation continues to limit people’s opportunities for long, healthy lives. Addressing these inequalities will require sustained action on the social and economic conditions that shape health - including income, housing, employment, and access to essential services - to ensure that everyone in Wales can benefit from the same prospects for good health and wellbeing.

Sources

Welsh Government, Wellbeing of Wales, 2024: a healthier Wales (2024)

Public Health Wales, Health expectancies in Wales with inequality gap (2024)

Office for National Statistics, Health state life expectancies by national deprivation quintiles, Wales (2022)