West Berkshire tops list for living a good, long life

West Berkshire is ranked ninth out of 150 upper-tier local authorities for healthy life expectancy for both males and females according to a report published in July by the Office for National Statistics.
According to the report, males can expect 67.5 healthy years and females 68.8 years.
Healthy life expectancy differs from life expectancy as it represents the number of years spent in either very good or good conditions of health, rather than all years of expected life. The average in England is 63.4 for males and 64.1 for females, putting West Berkshire ahead of the rest of the country by almost five years.
Marcus Franks, West Berkshire’s executive member for public health said the good news was down to the range of services offered in the county.
“A key focus over the coming months will be to continue to increase physical activity levels in both adults and children to help residents make healthy lifestyle choices to enable them to stay happy and healthy.”
Newbury MP Richard Benyon said that, although the county is doing very well in terms of health, “I don’t think it is a cause for complacency. I’m concerned about a number of trends particularly diabetes,” he warned.
Richmond-Upon-Thames and nearby Wokingham were ranked first for males and females respectively following a trend that showed that people in the South of England had a much greater healthy life expectancies than those in the North.
Lowest of all the counties was the London borough Tower Hamlets for males, with 52.5 years and Manchester for females, with 55.5 years
Life expectancy measuring all years of life regardless of health is currently 80.8 years for males and 84.6 years for females in West Berkshire.