Females in the most deprived areas of England and Wales are likely to spend less than two thirds of their life in good health – the lowest figure since recent records began.
The inequality gap between men and women has also grown, with those living in better-off parts of England enjoying around two more decades of healthy life.
The Covid-19 pandemic, with its increased levels of mortality, is continuing to have an impact on life expectancy estimates, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which published the figures.
Females born between 2020 and 2022 in the most deprived areas of England were likely to spend just 65.1% of their lives in good health, compared with 81.5% in the least deprived areas, the ONS found.
The estimate for the most deprived areas is the lowest since the time series began in 2013-15, when it stood at 66.3%.
For males born in 2020-22, the proportion of life expected to be spent in good health was 70.4% for those in the most deprived areas and 84.5% for those in the least deprived.
The figure for males in the most deprived parts of England is broadly unchanged on recent years.
The gap in healthy life expectancy between females born in the most and least deprived areas has widened from 19.6 years in 2013-15 to 20.2 years in 2020-22, while for males it has grown from 18.7 to 19.1.
Greg Ceely, ONS head of population health monitoring, said: “The pandemic led to increased mortality, the impact of which is seen in our life expectancy estimates.
“However, not everyone was impacted equally.
“The biggest decline in life expectancy was seen in the most deprived areas.
“Healthy life expectancy also declined, and in England and Wales women in the most deprived areas were expected to spend the lowest proportion of life in ‘good’ health – the smallest since our records began.”
Figures for Wales cannot be compared directly with England, due to different systems of measuring deprivation.
But the proportion of life that females born in 2020-22 in the most deprived areas of Wales are likely to spend in good health, 61.5%, is the lowest since those estimates began in 2013-15.
The equivalent figure for women born in the least deprived areas is 80.7%.
For males in Wales, the proportions were 70.2% for the most deprived areas and 83.6% for the least deprived.
Although the latest estimates represent a drop compared with the pre-pandemic period, this does not mean a baby born between 2020 and 2022 will necessarily go on to live a less healthy life.
Improvements in mortality rates in the future would lead to increases in life expectancy estimates, the ONS noted.
