Poorest adults in worse health now than older generation – study

Research shows widening health gap between higher and lower socioeconomic status

The poorest third of the UK's older working-age adults today have worse health than people born a century ago had at the same age, according to research that also shows the health gap between rich and poor is growing.

The study is the latest to show widening health inequalities. A report compiled by the Centre for Progressive Policy thinktank last year found dramatic regional differences in healthy life expectancy around the UK. It found that people living in former mining towns in Blaenau Gwent spend about 16 fewer years in good health than those living in Wokingham.