People in UK spend fewer years in good health than a decade ago, study finds

The thinktank behind the research called for England to introduce minimum unit pricing of alcohol, as is already the case in Scotland. Photograph: SolStock/Getty Images

People in the UK are spending fewer years in good health than a decade ago, prompting concern that the population’s health is “going backwards”.

The sharp decline in Britain’s healthy life expectancy, the amount of time someone spends free of illness or disability, is in sharp contrast to its recent rise in most other rich countries globally.