Life expectancy in parts of England was falling before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to new research.

In the five years before the pandemic (2014-2019), life expectancy dropped in almost one in five communities for women, and one in nine communities for men, according to the study conducted by Imperial College London researchers and published in The Lancet medical journal.

"There has always been an impression in the UK that everyone's health is improving, even if not at the same pace. These data show that longevity has been getting worse for years in large parts of England," said Majid Ezzati, senior author of the report.

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Recent data from the Office for National Statistics show life expectancy for men in the UK had fallen for the first time in 40 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to 82.90 for women and 79 for men in the year to 2020 (down from 82.93 and 79.25 the previous year, respectively). By comparison, average life expectancy in the EU continued to rise - to 84 for women and 78.5 for men (up from 83.7 and 78.2 the previous year, respectively).

But the new research shows life expectancy was declining in many communities years before the pandemic began.

The study's authors found that communities with the lowest life expectancy (below 70 and 75 years for men and women, respectively) were typically situated in urban areas in the north of England, including Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool. Communities with the highest life expectancies were often based in London and the surrounding "home counties."

"For such declines to be seen in 'normal times' before the pandemic is alarming, and signals ongoing policy failures to tackle poverty and provide adequate social support and health care," said Ezzati.

In 2019, there was about a 20-year gap in life expectancy between women living in communities with the highest and lowest life expectancies – one community in Camden, London had a life expectancy of 95.4, compared with a community in Leeds with a life expectancy of 74.7.

For men, the gap was 27 years – life expectancy in one area in London's Kensington and Chelsea was 95.3, compared with 68.3 in a part of Blackpool.