Life Expectancy Variation across England's Local Areas by Ethnic Group in 2001

Abstract

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People's life expectancies are closely linked to health and deprivation and highlight inequalities. Life expectancy in England continues to rise, while at the same time known differences between the social classes persist. Little is known about life expectancy of various ethnic groups living in England, even though statistics from other countries suggest pronounced differences in life expectancies between ethnic or race groups. In the absence of mortality figures for ethnic groups in England, we estimate life expectancies through surrogate information: health. In this paper we visualise these unique estimates in population cartograms, linking ethnic with geographical information. As well as detecting evident variations in life expectancy between ethnic groups, we also find the North-South gradient which divides England apparent within each group. Life expectancy at birth decreases by about one year for every 100 km further North. We display the spatial variation in life expectancy with population cartograms to give prominence to metropolitan areas where ethnic minority groups are concentrated. Conventional maps would hide the story that our cartograms tell.