Health expectancies in the UK and its constituent countries, 2001.

A previous article set out proposals for constructing a new series of health expectancies which aimed to widen the coverage to the UK and all four of its constituent countries and to improve the methods used in the calculations. This article investigates the impact of applying the new methods by comparing estimates of healthy life expectancy (HLE) and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) based on the old and new methods for one year (2001). It then goes on to present and compare health expectancies based on the new methodology across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the entire UK in 2001.