'Longevity ring' around London as capital's suburbs boast UK's best life expectancy

Nine out of 10 of the top areas for life expectancy after retirement are around London
Long lives: Those who live in Kingston upon Thames, home to Hampton Court Palace, have the best life expectancy in the UK.
Graham Hussey
Francesca Gillett13 December 2016

People living in the suburbs of London have the best life expectancy in the whole of the UK.

Nine out of the top 10 areas for the highest life expectancy after retirement in Britain are in the commuter belt outside London, resulting in a “longevity ring” around the capital.

Kingston upon Thames tops the list, followed by Hemel Hempstead, Guildford, Slough, St Albans, Redhill, Bromley, Harrow and Watford.

The average life expectancy for pensioners in these London suburbs is over 89 years.

Highest-ever: Life expectancy for pensioners after retirement is highest in the London suburbs.
PA

Meanwhile the ten postal areas of the country with the lowest life expectancy in retirement are all found in the north of England and Scotland, the research by financial advisors Willis Towers Watson found.

Top 10 postal areas for life expectancy after retirement

Kingston Upon Thames 89.74 

Hemel Hempstead 89.71

Guildford 89.71

Slough 89.7

St Albans 89.49

Harrogate 89.47

Redhill 89.43

Bromley 89.31

Harrow 89.31

Watford 89.28

Experts suggest the high life expectancy around London is not because of geography but economic and lifestyle factors, with commuters enjoying the higher wages of London plus a “comfortable and healthy working life”.

The only postcode area in the top 10 which is not in the south east of England is Harrogate in North Yorkshire, which ranks sixth.

Stephen Caine, senior mortality consultant at Willis Towers Watson said: “There are distinct differences in life expectancy in different areas of the country but in reality it is not the geography itself that is important, it’s the economic and lifestyle factors that are indicative of residents in different areas of the country.

“What this research highlights is that pensioners living in the outer ring surrounding London are the most likely to have had well-paid jobs and to have enjoyed a relatively comfortable and healthy working life which, alongside other factors, are strongly linked to longer lifespans.”

Pensioners in Sunderland are likely to die at a younger average age than anywhere else in the country, while Liverpool, Hull, Motherwell and Wigan are also in the bottom five.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in