What’s the health status of UK population (according to latest Census)?
The data below is derived from the 2021 Census
Key points
- The majority of the UK population (75.3% of men and 75.7% of women) reported being in good or very good health
- Almost half of the UK population (45.7% of men and 50.1% of women) reported having a long-standing health problem; more women (22.3%) reported being limited (but not severely) in activities because of a health problem in the last six months than men (18.5%).
- The four most common chronic conditions in the UK for men and women were allergy, high blood pressure, low back disorder and depression; allergy was the most common reported chronic health condition in both men and women (30.4% and 36.0%, respectively).
- Around one in four (25.1%) women and one in five (18.4%) men reported experiencing a delay in getting health care in the past 12 months because the time needed to obtain an appointment was too long.
- Around 4 in 10 men (39.7%) and women (43.9%) had a healthy body mass index (BMI) score, ranging between 18.5 and 24.9; however, a greater proportion of men (37.9%) were overweight than women (29.3%), based on a BMI score ranging between 25 and 29.9.
- Around 3 in 10 men (27.9%) and one in four (24.1%) women reported drinking alcohol one to two days a week; while more men reported drinking alcohol every day or almost every day than women (8.8% and 4.7%, respectively), a greater proportion of women reported that they did not drink or had never had alcohol than men (16.6% and 12.6%, respectively).
- Around one in four women (23.1%) said they provide informal care or assistance compared with around one in six men (17.4%); 80.3% of men and 80.7% of women reported the informal care or assistance is provided to family members.
