We all know money can't buy you happiness, but it sure can buy you a longer life. The Evening Standard reports that there is a 25-year (!!) gap in life expectancy between the inhabitants of London’s most affluent and poorer boroughs.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, published a report linking life expectancy with poor diet, education, housing, and employment. It makes sense: Upper-class neighborhoods provide a cleaner, safer quality of living. However, 25 years is a stark difference. “Much more needs to be done," Marmot says. “The best life expectancy in London is better than the average in Japan, which has the highest in the world, and the worst compares to Guatemala.” Woah, there.
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The boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea are the areas with the highest life expectancy. The average age for women in Westminster is 93.76 years old and 92.5 for Kensington and Chelsea. And, the lowest is in Nunhead at 76.3.
It has to be said that these results don’t take into account a range of contributing factors. As the Evening Standard points out: Medical breakthroughs, population changes, and people moving out of these areas before dying would influence the data the report is based on.
Still, a quarter-century disparity brings to light some social concerns. Does survival of the wealthiest ring true or should there be a more equal quality of living for everyone? (The Evening Standard)
Photo: Via The Evening Standard.