SOURCES · TRANSPARENT BY DESIGN

Every source we use.

Lifemap exists to make UK public-health statistics easier to read, not to add another layer between you and the source. Every figure on the site comes from one of the sources below. Anything not derivable from these is not on Lifemap.

Dataset version · All under Open Government Licence v3.0 unless noted
§ 01 · Life expectancy

ONS — Life expectancy for local areas of the UK 2022–2024

Period life expectancy at birth, by sex, for every UK council, including English districts: all 380 records in the dataset. The pipeline finds the current workbook on the landing page on every run, because the filename changes between releases.

§ 02 · Healthy life expectancy

ONS — Health state life expectancy, all ages, UK 2022–2024

Healthy life expectancy at birth, by sex, for every UK upper-tier and single-tier council: English upper-tier councils, Scottish councils, Welsh principal areas and Northern Ireland districts alike (216 records). The February 2026 release is Lifemap’s single source for all four nations; Lifemap’s previous figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were for 2016–2018, from an older ONS workbook. It estimates the share of people in good health with a statistical model because the Annual Population Survey’s sample has shrunk; ONS calls this an interim method. The 164 English districts are not covered by this annual series; their pages show the county’s annual figure, labelled as the county’s, rather than copying it into the data file, and after it ONS’s census-based estimate for the district (below), a different measure.

  • Landing
    ons.gov.uk/…/healthstatelifeexpectancyallagesukreleased 19 February 2026

    The pipeline finds the current workbook here on every run. Latest period selected: 2022 to 2024. The release notes that its Northern Ireland estimates use different methods and data from those of Northern Ireland’s Department of Health.

  • XLSX
    ons.gov.uk/…/healthstatelifeexpectancyallagesuk/current/healthylifeexpectancyuk.xlsxin use

    Used for hle_male and hle_female (the at-birth <1 age group), from which hle_avg and gap_avg are derived.

  • Census-based
    ons.gov.uk/…/healthstatelifeexpectancyestimatesformiddlelayersuperoutputareasenglandandwalesreleased 30 July 2026

    A separate ONS release, Health state life expectancy estimates for Middle layer Super Output Areas, England and Wales (2019–2023, XLSX, Open Government Licence v3.0): life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy at birth by sex, with 95% confidence intervals, for all 7,264 neighbourhoods (middle layer super output areas) and every council in England and Wales. It combines deaths registered over five years with the health people reported in the 2021 Census, so ONS says it is not comparable with the annual release above. Lifemap uses it, in its own labelled blocks, for the neighbourhood figures after a postcode search and for the 164 English district pages (hle_census_male, hle_census_female). Lifemap publishes 7,262 of those neighbourhoods: it leaves out the two in the City of London and the Isles of Scilly, because ONS’s annual series have no separate figures for those two councils, so Lifemap has no council record to attach them to. It also leaves out the estimate ONS lists as implausible and marks figures ONS partly imputed.

  • Gap-filler
    OHID Fingertips indicator 90362working

    Used only to fill an English upper-tier council the ONS workbook leaves blank; it never overrides a workbook value.

§ 03 · Healthy life expectancy by deprivation

ONS — Healthy life expectancy by national area deprivation

National healthy life expectancy by deprivation band: tenths of neighbourhoods (IMD deciles) in England, fifths (WIMD quintiles) in Wales. Released 15 April 2026. Used for the deprivation chart on the homepage and the deprivation figures in the story and press pages.

§ 04 · Lifestyle measures (England)

OHID Fingertips API working

Adults who smoke, overweight or obese, physically active, eating five a day and drinking over 14 units a week, for English upper-tier councils and districts. Indicator IDs are resolved by name, not fixed, so the dataset survives renumbering. The API documentation lists every endpoint.

  • Indicators in use
    resolved
    • Adults who smoke: indicator 92443, Annual Population Survey, 2022–24.
    • Adults overweight or obese (BMI 25 or over): indicator 93088, Active Lives Adult Survey, 2024/25.
    • Adults physically active (150+ minutes a week): indicator 93014, Active Lives Adult Survey, 2024/25.
    • Adults eating five portions of fruit and veg a day: indicator 93982, Active Lives Adult Survey, 2024/25.
    • Adults drinking over 14 units a week: indicator 92778, Health Survey for England, 2015–18.

    Smoking comes from the Annual Population Survey (self-reported, adults 18 and over) rather than GP records, so all four nations’ smoking figures are survey-based. No figure is published for Ribble Valley for smoking; Cumberland, Hammersmith and Fulham, North Northamptonshire, Rutland, West Northamptonshire and Westmorland and Furness for drinking over 14 units. Those cells are blank rather than filled from another source.

  • Bulk CSV (upper tier)
    /api/all_data/csv/for_one_indicator?indicator_id=…&parent_area_type_id=15&child_area_type_id=502working

    Upper-tier councils on post-April-2023 boundaries. Used for all five measures, including drinking, which is published only at this level. The response currently includes districts as well, and the pipeline reads their figures from it.

  • Bulk CSV (districts)
    /api/all_data/csv/for_one_indicator?indicator_id=…&parent_area_type_id=15&child_area_type_id=501working

    Districts on post-April-2023 boundaries, for the four measures published at district level. Fetched only as a fallback, when the upper-tier response above has no districts in it. Districts have no drinking figure of their own; their pages show the county’s, labelled as the county’s.

  • Indicator search
    /api/indicator_search?search_text=…working

    Used to resolve indicator IDs by name.

  • Indicator metadata
    /api/indicator_metadata/by_indicator_id?indicator_ids=…working

    Indicator names and publishers, used to check each resolved ID still means what we expect.

  • District → county
    ONS Open Geography Portal — LAD24 to CTYUA24 (December 2024)working

    Gives each English district its county (parent_utla_slug), so district pages can show the county’s healthy life expectancy and drinking figures, labelled as the county’s.

§ 05 · Lifestyle measures (Scotland)

Scottish Government — survey council-area results

Scotland is not in Fingertips. Smoking comes from the Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2023. The other four measures come from the Scottish Health Survey’s council-area dashboard, for all 32 councils: overweight or obese (BMI 25 or over), drinking over 14 units a week and physical activity from the 2021–2024 pooled results; five a day from the 2016–2019 pool, the latest published for that measure, because the survey’s switch to telephone interviewing during the pandemic broke comparability.

  • SSCQ 2023
    gov.scot/publications/scottish-surveys-core-questions-2023working

    Released 27 March 2025. Pooled results from the Scottish Household Survey, Scottish Health Survey and Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, published by council. Used for smoking only.

  • SSCQ tables
    SSCQ 2023 supplementary tables (ODS)working
  • SHeS dashboard
    scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-scottish-health-surveydownloaded 4 Jul 2026

    Council-area results downloaded from the dashboard’s data tab: overweight including obesity (BMI 25 or over, self-reported, 16 and over), hazardous or harmful drinking (over 14 units a week), meeting the physical activity guideline (150 minutes a week) and five or more portions of fruit and vegetables. Values are rounded to whole percentages as published; 95% intervals are kept in the raw download.

§ 06 · Lifestyle measures (Wales)

Public Health Wales — Public Health Outcomes Framework, and the National Survey for Wales

Smoking, drinking, physical activity and five a day come from Public Health Wales’s Public Health Outcomes Framework (accredited official statistics derived from the National Survey for Wales), pooled over 2021/22–2022/23, for all 22 principal areas. The definitions match England and Scotland, but PHOF publishes age-standardised percentages, whereas the other nations’ figures are crude percentages, so Welsh figures are not exactly comparable. Overweight or obese comes from the National Survey for Wales 2019–20 (BMI 25 or over, crude), because PHOF publishes no all-adult weight measure.

  • PHOF tool
    publichealthwales.shinyapps.io/PHOF_Dashboard_Engdownloaded 5 Jul 2026

    “Full data download” workbook, table 3 (ways of living that improve health): adults who smoke, adults drinking above guidelines, adults meeting physical activity guidelines, adults eating five fruit or vegetable portions a day, by local authority, persons, age-standardised, 2021/22–2022/23. Framework home.

  • StatsWales hlth5002
    web.archive.org/…/statswales.gov.wales/…/adultlifestyles-by-localauthority-healthboardarchive copy · weight only

    Source of the weight figures (BMI 25 or over, 2018-19/2019-20 pool). The live page was retired in the 2025 move from StatsWales to stats.gov.wales, and the adult-lifestyles table had not been migrated when last checked (5 July 2026), so the figures come from the Internet Archive’s copy.

§ 07 · Lifestyle measures (Northern Ireland)

Health Survey Northern Ireland — trust level shown as trust figures

Adult lifestyle figures are published only for the 5 Health and Social Care Trusts, never for the 11 council districts, whose samples would be too small. The lifestyle fields stay blank in the district records; district pages show the trust’s figures, labelled as the trust’s, and nothing is copied into the district record.

  • HSNI 2024/25
    health-ni.gov.uk/…/health-survey-northern-ireland-first-results-202425working

    Department of Health (Northern Ireland). Periods used: 2023/24 for smoking, weight, physical activity and five a day; 2022/23 for drinking, which was not asked in the latest year.

  • Trend tables (XLSX)
    health-ni.gov.uk/…/hsni-trend-tables-24-25.xlsxworking

    The “by Health and Social Care Trust” sections of each indicator sheet give the trust figures Lifemap uses.

  • District → trust
    nisra.gov.uk/…/maps-…-trust-and-local-government-districtsworking

    Trust areas pre-date the 2015 council reorganisation. Most districts sit within one trust; Mid Ulster (Northern Health and Social Care Trust and Southern Health and Social Care Trust) and Newry, Mourne and Down (South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and Southern Health and Social Care Trust) each span two, and their pages show both.

  • Sources ruled out
    not council-level

    No UK statistical body publishes adult lifestyle figures for Northern Ireland’s council districts: the Continuous Household Survey (Northern Ireland only, ended 2009/10); Sport NI’s Active Lifestyles Survey (council level, but sport participation rather than the 150-minute guideline); the Health Inequalities Annual Report (district sheets cover mortality and child obesity only); Census 2021 (general health only); the Annual Population Survey (UK regions only).

  • Definitions
    Trust figures against Lifemap’s columns. Weight counts obesity only (BMI 30 or over), narrower than the BMI 25 or over used for England, Scotland and Wales: the one remaining definition mismatch on the site. Drinking combines the survey’s “increased” and “higher risk” groups, which is over 14 units a week. Physical activity uses the 150-minute guideline; smoking is self-reported; five a day means five or more portions the previous day. Adults are 16 and over, except physical activity (19 and over).
§ 08 · Postcode to council

Postcodes.io

A free UK postcode service with no API key. When you enter a postcode, it is sent to postcodes.io, which returns the council name (admin_district); the page then looks that council up in the dataset. Lifemap does not store your postcode.

§ 09 · Boundaries

ONS Open Geography Portal

The map uses December 2024 boundaries for counties and unitary authorities in the ultra-generalised (BUC) version: 218 areas, 448 KB after coordinates are rounded to four decimal places. Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2024.

§ 10 · Credits and licences

Who publishes what

  • ONS, OHID

    Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Office for National Statistics, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

  • Scotland

    Scottish Government: Scottish Surveys Core Questions and Scottish Health Survey, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

  • Wales

    Public Health Wales: Public Health Outcomes Framework. Welsh Government: National Survey for Wales, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

  • Northern Ireland

    Department of Health (Northern Ireland): Health Survey Northern Ireland, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

  • Boundaries

    Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2024.

  • Postcodes

    Postcode lookup by postcodes.io, built on ONS and Ordnance Survey open data.

  • Map colours

    The map’s colour scale is the ColorBrewer YlGnBu scheme. This product includes color specifications and designs developed by Cynthia Brewer (http://colorbrewer.org/).

§ 11 · Files Lifemap publishes

Built from the sources above

All reusable under the Open Government Licence v3.0 with the attribution above; the site’s code is MIT-licensed.

  • Dataset
    /uk_la_data.json438 KB

    380 UK council records (151 English upper-tier councils, 164 English districts, 32 Scottish councils, 22 Welsh principal areas, 11 Northern Ireland districts). _meta.lifestyle_sources and _meta.hle_sources document sources by nation; _meta.resolved_indicators records the Fingertips IDs in use; _meta.country_totals holds UK and national figures. Dataset version: 26 September 2026.

  • Downloads
    /data/CSV · JSON

    The dataset as CSV (/data/uk_la_data.csv, every council and every field), the trend series as JSON and CSV (/data/uk_la_trends.json, /data/uk_la_trends.csv), a data dictionary (/data/uk_la_data_dictionary.csv) and one JSON and CSV file per council (for example /data/areas/westminster.json, /data/areas/westminster.csv), with a suggested citation. All are generated from the dataset when the site is built.

  • Rankings
    /rank/8 measures

    Every council ranked within its nation and tier on each measure, with ONS 95% confidence intervals and a comparison with the nation for life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (methodology §03).

  • Neighbourhoods
    /data/msoa/<council>.json316 files

    The ONS census-based neighbourhood figures (§ 02), one file per council in England and Wales, keyed by the 2021 middle layer super output area code that postcodes.io returns. The homepage fetches the council’s file after a postcode search. _meta.census_hle_source in the dataset describes the format.

  • Deprivation
    /data/hle-by-deprivation.jsonworking

    The ONS healthy-life-expectancy-by-deprivation series (§ 03), trimmed for the homepage chart.

  • Boundaries
    /data/utla-simplified.geojson448 KB

    The simplified December 2024 boundaries (§ 09).

  • Press kit
    /press/kit/ · PDFworking

    A printable brief built from the same data as these pages.

  • Council pages
    /area/ · /area/westminster/ · /area/glasgow-city/working

    380 pages, one per council record, generated when the site is built. District pages include the labelled county block; Northern Ireland pages the labelled trust block.

  • Changelog feed
    /feed.xmlAtom

    Data releases, corrections and site changes, from the same entries as the changelog.

  • Share images
    working

    A 1200×630 image per council, generated when the site is deployed.

  • Pipeline
    Python

    A Python script turns the sources above into uk_la_data.json. Its code is not yet public; the methodology explains what it rebuilds from scratch and what it carries forward.

§ 12 · Check any number

Five steps

  1. Postcode to council (§ 08): curl -s 'https://api.postcodes.io/postcodes/FY12AA' | python3 -m json.tool
  2. Read the council’s record (§ 11): curl -s 'https://lifemap.org.uk/uk_la_data.json' | python3 -c "import sys, json; print(json.dumps(json.load(sys.stdin)['blackpool'], indent=2))"
  3. Check life expectancy (§ 01): open the latest workbook, find the council’s area code, and compare.
  4. Check healthy life expectancy and lifestyle figures: healthy life expectancy per § 02; lifestyle per § 04 to § 07 depending on the nation. _meta.lifestyle_sources in the dataset says which source applies.
  5. Check the page: open https://lifemap.org.uk/area/<name>/; every value there comes from the same record. The area directory lists all 380 councils.