10-year life expectancy gap between London streets revealed by postcode inequality study

Those living in the mansions of Belgravia’s Grosvenor Crescent can expect to live to 94
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Daniel O'Mahony25 March 2019

The capital’s “postcode inequality” was laid bare today by research showing that some Londoners are dying more than 10 years earlier than those in neighbouring areas.

The study of life expectancy rates for over-65s found vast differences, not only between boroughs, but between affluent and poorer districts within the same local authority.

The greatest disparity is in Westminster, where the average life expectancy for over-65s in a postcode in Lancefield Street, Queen’s Park, is 83.72 years. Less than three miles away in the same borough, those living in the mansions of Belgravia’s Grosvenor Crescent can expect to live 10.28 years longer, to 94.

Residents of Islington’s Wheelwright Street, in the shadow of Pentonville Prison, have the capital’s lowest life expectancy at 65, reaching an average of 81.75 years. In contrast, the borough’s longest-living pensioners in more affluent Ripplevale Grove — 600 yards away — can expect to live 7.64 years longer, to 89.39. The research was carried out by data consultancy CACI, which claims to give more detailed figures than the Office for National Statistics by analysing life expectancy on a “granular” level. The data was derived from more than a million anonymised pension records, together with ONS mortality statistics.

Usual studies look at the contrasts between life expectancies from borough to borough but this one examines them from postcode to postcode.

In Wandsworth, those living in Roedean Crescent, near Richmond Park, can expect to live to 90.38 — 7.56 years longer than pensioners from Minstead Gardens, less than half a mile away.

Other boroughs that saw a wide gulf in life expectancy between postcodes include Barnet, Camden and Kensington and Chelsea. The longest average life expectancy for over-65s was found in Camden, near Primrose Hill, at 94.12.

Kandyce Tester, vice president at CACI, said: “The vast differences between postcodes at this granular level shows that we need to take a very close look to really understand our neighbourhoods. This will help improve planning and make sure organisations can tailor their services exactly to what is needed by people on the ground.”

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