Sunderland ranked as 20th unhealthiest place in England in ONS Health Index

The scores, collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and financial services company Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP), were created by combining different health factors to create a ranking for each local authority area.

Sunderland was given an overall ranking of 94.9, placing it in position 130 out of 149 locations – 20th from the bottom of the list.

Blackpool, in position 149, was ranked as England’s unhealthiest place with a score of 86.4.

Sunderland sits one place behind South Tyneside, with the borough ranked as the 19th worst nationally, with a rating of 94.7.

Middlesbrough (91.6) and Hartlepool (92.3) were ranked as the fourth and fifth unhealthiest areas of the country respectively.

The data set also revealed the North East as the unhealthiest region in England.

It was given an overall rating of 95.9, compared with a high score of 102.5 in the South East – the healthiest of the regions.

The study – made up of data from 2015-2018 – took into account issues beyond illness, such as living standards or lifestyle behaviours of those living in a location.

A score was then given based on three categories; healthy people, healthy lives and healthy places.

Speaking about the data, Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, head of LCP’s Health Analytics team, said: “The numbers reveal clear and substantial differences across England and should be a wake-up call to the Government to deliver on its manifesto pledge to level up regional inequalities.”

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