Amidst the hoopla of the London Olympics, a new report by the (Amnesty International award-winning) Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that men in the more deprived parts of London are living up to 12 years less than those living in the wealthier boroughs.

The shocking disparity was revealed in a Bureau investigation into male health in the capital. It showed that a man in Queen’s Gate, in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, lives to the average age of 88.3. But in Lewisham Central, South East London, life expectancy is only 70.8.

The poor life expectancy figures for men living in some parts of the capital was in sharp contrast to female life expectancy. In almost two-thirds (61%) of London’s wards, the gap between men and women’s life expectancy is wider than the national average of 4.1 years.

The national average of women’s life expectancy is 82.3 years;  for men, it is 78.2 years – just over four years shorter. However, in London, the average life expectancy for men is 77.1 years, and for women it is 81.7 years – a wider gap of 4.6 years.

The gap is most notable in the more deprived parts of the capital, where women out-live men by more than 12 years.

In one ward in the heart of the city: Cathedrals, in Southwark, the Bureau found that women live on average 12.72 years longer than men. Men’s life expectancy there is 73.75 years, while women live on average until they are 86.47 years old. That’s worse than the average disparity between men and women in Russia, the country where relatively, men live the world’s second shortest lives compared to their female counterparts.[1]

June 25th, 2012 | by Dan Bell and Emma Slater @ The Bureau of Investigative Joirnalism –

[1] Source: WHO 2009 Life expectancy at birth (years) datahttp://apps.who.int/ghodata/?vid=710#