British life expectancy hits new high

The fact that life expectancy in Britain has reached record levels should be a cause for celebration. According to the latest release from the Office for National Statistics: “UK life expectancy at birth rises to record level: 77.2 years for males, 81.5 years for females”.

Presumably these figures have received relatively little publicity because they do not chime with the official view that we are facing some kind of national health emergency. The impression given by much of the discussion is that obesity will lead to rampant disease and falling life expectancy. But even if there are health risks associated with obesity (and it should be noted obesity is not the same as simply being overweight) they are evidently more than offset by other factors. The general trend is for greater affluence to lead to us living longer and healthier lives.