London has the lowest mortality rate, and highest life expectancy, in England.
SHARE:
London has a lower mortality rate than the rest of England, across all levels of deprivation, partly because of the “healthy migrant” effect.
New data from the ONS shows deprivation level against mortality rate, separated between different types of built up area.
The correlation is broadly the same across the country. People who live in higher levels of deprivation have higher mortality rates.
The data was separated into three levels of built up area, covering everything from hamlets to major cities.
There is hardly any difference in mortality between rural and major built up areas. Life expectancy has little relationship with whether someone lives in a village or a city.
That is, apart from London, which has a lower mortality rate than everywhere else in England, as this graph shows.
The discrepancy between London and the rest of England suggests that people in London have better health outcomes at lower levels of wealth. Crudely, that means people in London are able to survive poverty for longer.
This data is age-adjusted, so it doesn’t matter that London has a younger population. It’s separated into levels of deprivation, so differences in wealth don’t affect the results either.
London is clearly an exception. Dr Veera Raleigh, a Senior Fellow at the King’s Fund, puts this down to migration, both within the UK and abroad. London benefits from the ‘healthy migrant’ effect – young, fit, ambitious people come to London to find work.
“The people who are moving into London tend to be fitter, healthier. By the same token, as people get older and sicker, they tend to move out of London.”
Some of this movement is within the country – Dr Raleigh calls that “internal migration” – but enough of it is international to give London an ethnic diversity unlike the rest of the country, as 2021 census data shows.
The new data correlates with Dr Raleigh’s findings from a 2023 post-pandemic study:
“I found that some boroughs, like Newham and Tower Hamlets and Southwark and Lambeth, those London boroughs had the highest increase in life expectancy despite being some very deprived boroughs and also very high ethnic minority boroughs.
The healthy migrant theory goes a long way to explaining that, but Dr Raleigh says it is not the only factor.
“We don’t know, definitively, what’s causing that phenomenon.”
“There could be a number of things that could be driving it.”
For example, the lower mortality rate could simply be down to hospital logistics: if someone has a stroke or a heart attack in London, the chances are they are only a couple of miles from the nearest hospital. In rural areas, hospitals could be too far away.
This new data shows how things are, but it doesn’t tell us why the numbers do what they do. Even so, these stats fit into existing assumptions about how London differs from the rest of the country. The city is populated by young, healthy, working people from all around the world. That means that it is healthier, across all levels of deprivation, compared to the rest of England.
Submitted Article
Headline
Short Headline
Standfirst
Published Article
HeadlineThe ‘healthy migrant’ effect is boosting London’s population health
Short Headline'Healthy migrant' effect boosts London health
StandfirstNew Office of National Statistics data shows Londoners live longer across all levels of deprivation
London has a lower mortality rate than the rest of England, across all levels of deprivation, partly because of the “healthy migrant” effect.
New data from the ONS shows deprivation level against mortality rate, separated between different types of built up area.
The correlation is broadly the same across the country. People who live in higher levels of deprivation have higher mortality rates.
The data was separated into three levels of built up area, covering everything from hamlets to major cities.
There is hardly any difference in mortality between rural and major built up areas. Life expectancy has little relationship with whether someone lives in a village or a city.
That is, apart from London, which has a lower mortality rate than everywhere else in England, as this graph shows.
The discrepancy between London and the rest of England suggests that people in London have better health outcomes at lower levels of wealth. Crudely, that means people in London are able to survive poverty for longer.
This data is age-adjusted, so it doesn’t matter that London has a younger population. It’s separated into levels of deprivation, so differences in wealth don’t affect the results either.
London is clearly an exception. Dr Veera Raleigh, a Senior Fellow at the King’s Fund, puts this down to migration, both within the UK and abroad. London benefits from the ‘healthy migrant’ effect – young, fit, ambitious people come to London to find work.
“The people who are moving into London tend to be fitter, healthier. By the same token, as people get older and sicker, they tend to move out of London.”
Some of this movement is within the country – Dr Raleigh calls that “internal migration” – but enough of it is international to give London an ethnic diversity unlike the rest of the country, as 2021 census data shows.
The new data correlates with Dr Raleigh’s findings from a 2023 post-pandemic study:
“I found that some boroughs, like Newham and Tower Hamlets and Southwark and Lambeth, those London boroughs had the highest increase in life expectancy despite being some very deprived boroughs and also very high ethnic minority boroughs.
The healthy migrant theory goes a long way to explaining that, but Dr Raleigh says it is not the only factor.
“We don’t know, definitively, what’s causing that phenomenon.”
“There could be a number of things that could be driving it.”
For example, the lower mortality rate could simply be down to hospital logistics: if someone has a stroke or a heart attack in London, the chances are they are only a couple of miles from the nearest hospital. In rural areas, hospitals could be too far away.
This new data shows how things are, but it doesn’t tell us why the numbers do what they do. Even so, these stats fit into existing assumptions about how London differs from the rest of the country. The city is populated by young, healthy, working people from all around the world. That means that it is healthier, across all levels of deprivation, compared to the rest of England.
