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In Essex 1 in 4 adults will be aged 65+ by 2035, and with the increasing picture of an older population the demand and need of these are changing.

The health of the population continues to be a challenge for all partners within Essex, and even with an increase in the life expectancy in recent year there are still notable differences across the districts in Essex.

According to the last published Census 82% of the Essex residents are in good health, this is slightly better than England average of 79.2%.

  • The average life expectancy in Essex is 80.2 years for men, and 83.7 for women.
  • Except for Tendring, Harlow and Basildon, the life expectancy for both men and women in Essex districts is in line with or above the average life expectancies for women and men in England.
  • Life expectancy is stalling due to Covid-19 but there is a significant gap between the most deprived and the least deprived areas in Essex. 8 years for men 6.5 years for women.

  • The average healthy life expectancy in Essex is 64.2 years for men and 65.9 for women, indicating women have 1.7 more years of healthy life than men.
  • While women in Essex are likely to live longer, they are also likely to have more years of ill health – 18.1 years compared to 16 for men.
  • The gap between the healthy life expectancies of men and women is wider in Essex than at national level, where for men it is 63.1, and for women it is 63.9.

This is showing that a significant period of people’s life is spent living with declining health.

In Essex we have a higher rate of adults that are overweight or obese at 68%, compared to England average which is 64%.*

21.1% of adults in Essex undertake less than 30 minutes of physical activity per week, these are all important facts leading to the health of our community.**

*Source: Fingertips Public Health Data **Source: Fingertips Public Health Data

The demand in our services is driven by the need of our population, and we underpin the need by primary support reason, secondary support reason and the number health conditions of an adult.

The above table is showing that the number of people with a primary support reason as sensory has the highest number average health conditions. This tells us that an average person has multiple care needs, and this requires local authority to design more personalised care service to support the complexity of needs.

Around 1.8% of the Essex population have some form of baseline learning disability, the below graph is showing the predicted changes.

As the percentage of our population living with some form of learning disability and/or autism continues to grow, our services will continue to see a rise in demand.

In Essex we have 2,960 adults aged 75+ as registered blind or partially sighted*, and 17% of the Essex adult population have a long-term health problem or disability with Dementia being the most common**. The below graph is showing the predicted increase in population aged 65+ with Dementia during 2023 to 2040. 

It is estimated that 11% of the Essex population aged 18-64 have a common mental health disorder, with this percentage raising to almost 12% by 2040. It is further estimated that 21.4% of the Essex population aged 65+ have depression or severe depression, with this percentage raising to almost 25% by 2040***.

*Source: Fingertips Public Health Data, **Source: Fingertips Public Health Data, ***Source: POPPI/PANSI Projections

Last updated: 31/03/2024
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