What it means: how many years a baby born now could expect to live in good health, based on how people rate their own health in surveys combined with death rates. It has fallen for both sexes over the past decade while overall life expectancy has barely changed, so more years are lived in poor health. The solid line is the simple average of women and men; the fainter lines are women (solid) and men (dotted). A change of 0.1 years or more on the previous period counts.

Source: ONS, healthy life expectancy, UK, at birth, released February 2026.