Stress caused by inequality is killing more than 200,000 a year

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Expert has warned middle class are losing out on eight years of healthy life
Sir Michael Marmot said inequality in UK is killing people 'on grand scale'
Said 500 people dying daily from poor health caused by limited education

Published: 00:25 EST, 10 September 2015 | Updated: 02:16 EST, 10 September 2015

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The middle class are losing out on eight years of healthy life due to failings in education and stress at work, an expert has warned.

Sir Michael Marmot said they were far more likely to develop long-term illnesses such as strokes, heart disease and cancer than the wealthiest in society.

He also calculated than an average of 500 people were dying a day in Britain from poor health caused by limited education.

Sir Michael Marmot, a world-renowned professor from University College London said the middle class are losing out on eight years of healthy life due to failings in education and stress at work (file image)

Sir Michael, a world-renowned professor from University College London, said that the gap between the most wealthy and everyone else is ‘killing people on a grand scale.’

But rather than trying to improve NHS care, he urged ministers to focus on raising education standards and living conditions as this affected overall health.

Sir Michael published a major review in 2010 commissioned by the Government which looked at how the differences in health between the richest in society and everyone else.

He has since carried out other analyses which have found that the gap here is much wider than other European countries and shortening our average life expectancies.

Following more recent calculations, Sir Michael said the middle class as well as the poorest households were losing out.

Sir Michael said the most important influences on the average man or woman’s health were their childhood, education, working conditions and salary

‘The higher you are the better your health,’ he said. ‘People in the top have the best health and there is no good biological reason why people in the middle, regardless of where we are in the hierarchy, can’t enjoy the same good health as people at the top.

‘On average people are living about eight fewer years of healthy life.

‘That doesn’t just mean dying sooner - that means earlier onset of disability, decline in grip strength, respiratory function, mobility, cognitive ability - all happen at an earlier age the lower down you are in the social hierarchy and that gradient runs all the way from the top to the bottom.

‘If everybody in the country had the low mortality of the people with university education, we could prevent 202,000 premature deaths each year, before the age of 75.

‘We do know what causes it - it’s inequality in the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age and inequities in power, money and resources, that give rise to those inequities in conditions of daily life.

‘We know what to do and we can do it - the fact that we’re not doing it is why I am talking about social injustice killing people on a grand scale.’

Sir Michael said the most important influences on the average man or woman’s long-term health were their early childhood, education, working conditions and salary.

Last year published data showing that as many as half of all five year olds were not ready for school due to lack of support for parents.

Sir Michael said the situation as ‘unacceptable’ as the early years of childhood were so crucial for determining future health.