Data published by the Office for National Statistics on 19 February 2026 shows healthy life expectancy at birth in the UK stood at 60.7 years for males and 60.9 years for females in 2022 to 2024. These figures mark a fall of 1.8 years for men and 2.5 years for women compared with 2019 to 2021.
The decline takes healthy life expectancy to its lowest level since the time series began in 2011 to 2013. Males can now expect to spend 77 percent of their lives in good general health, down 2.6 percentage points. For females the proportion has fallen 3.3 percentage points to 73 percent.
This reversal occurred despite modest gains in overall life expectancy. The primary driver is worsening self-reported health. The proportion of UK adults reporting good or very good health stood at 70.4 percent in January to March 2026, little changed from 71.0 percent a year earlier.
England recorded the highest healthy life expectancy among UK nations, at 60.9 years for males and 61.3 years for females. Scotland had the lowest for males at 59.1 years, while Wales recorded the lowest for females at 58.5 years. Across the UK as a whole, healthy life expectancy has fallen by more than two years between 2012 to 2014 and 2022 to 2024.
The UK was one of only five of 21 high-income countries to register a decline in healthy life expectancy between 2011 and 2021. It recorded the second steepest fall in that group. Such outcomes point to systemic weaknesses in a centrally planned health service that has allowed waiting lists to balloon and resources to be directed away from the preventive and timely care that keeps people well.
