Avoidable deaths: poorest people continue to have the greatest risk in England and Wales

Wealth is the key to a longer life, but even among the poorest people small differences in deprivation have a marked effect, the latest data show.1

Between 2014 and 2017, the rates of avoidable mortality among men in England fell for all socioeconomic groups, with the greatest gains being made by those in the second and third most deprived areas. The poorest areas gained about as much as the richest, meaning that the absolute gap between the extremes remained very wide.

Among women, the picture was different. Neither rich nor poor woman showed any great improvement, and avoidable mortality increased among the poorest women.

Men living in the most deprived areas were 4.5 times …