It has long been recognised that there is a north and south divide in the UK.
While the attention around the disparities is usually focused on the economic angle, health quality seems to suffer as well.
Located on the northwest coast of England, Blackpool is one of the Northern towns where many struggle with poor health.
Behind the picturesque seafront and family-friendly attractions, the seaside resort ranked the lowest in terms of longevity, according to the British Longevity Index released by Forbes Advisor.
Blackpool Council spokesperson revealed that there are “multiple aspects” that contribute to this gloomy statistic.
READ MORE The seaside town with the lowest life expectancy in England
Looking at data from 331 British local authorities across England, Wales and Scotland, Forbes Advisor, the price comparison and financial guidance website, calculated where people are most likely to live the longest.
Blackpool came at the bottom of the list, followed by Hull, Sandwell, Burnley, and Stoke-on-Trent.
On the other hand, places like Elmbridge and Surrey finished first in the Longevity Index.
The index ranked local authorities out of 100, based on a range of factors, with average life expectancy weighted the highest, followed by the number of physically active residents, and the prevalence of smoking in the area.
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While these factors were given less weight towards the final scores, the index also considered the gross disposable household income per head, death registrations in the past five years, and the number of fast-food restaurants per 10,000 people.
Furthermore, the factors that heavily affected the outcome of Blackpool and other areas at the bottom of the list were smoking prevalence and lack of physical activity.
Kevin Pratt, life insurance expert at Forbes Advisor, said: “It makes perfect sense that being physically active and not smoking can contribute to a long life.
“But it is interesting to see high levels of income also featuring in the areas where we found longevity to be the greatest.”
Blackpool Council Director of Public Health, Dr Arif Rajpura, explained there are multiple aspects that contribute towards low life expectancy in the area.
Dr Rajpura said: “A huge number of factors influence how healthy the population is, from the strength of the local economy, housing and education to levels of smoking, substance misuse, diet and access to health services and over the past decade, significant cuts have been made when it comes to local authority funding, making it hard for us to narrow the inequality gap.
“It has been cited that coastal communities have often been overlooked by governments and the ill-health hidden because their outcomes are merged with wealthier inland areas.”
However, the spokesperson explained that Blackpool is “constantly” taking steps to drive economic regeneration, create more jobs and make the seaside resort a better place to live and work.
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