Small Data: Are Rwandans healthier than the English?
Are people living in Rwanda really likely to live more years in good health than people in the most deprived 10% of England, asks Anthony Reuben.
You would certainly think that if you read some news articles on the subject at the end of last week.
It was based on a publication on Thursday from the Office for National Statistics, which showed the inequality in healthy life expectancy across England.
At birth, the top 10% of people could expect to live for 71 years in good health. The bottom 10% had a healthy life expectancy of 52 years.
That 18-year gap between the highest and lowest healthy life expectancy is quite startling, but does it mean the bottom 10% are in a worse situation than people living in Rwanda?
The figures for Rwanda come from the World Health Organization. It tells us that in 2012, people born in Rwanda had a healthy life expectancy at birth of 55 years.
Incidentally, that is an extraordinary improvement for Rwanda, which only 12 years earlier had a healthy life expectancy of 40.
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