article_snippet: The figures for boys provoked protests from poverty pressure groups, which compared health inequality in Britain with health levels in Third World countries, and complained that the wealth gap is now dragging down the health of the entire British population.
article_snippet: The figures were calculated from the ONS Annual Population Survey which checks on the lives of 320,000 people a year.
article_snippet: it said that if The figures were adjusted by measures designed to take into account income across the population rather than just in extremely poor or rich districts, the gaps were wider – 19.5 years for women as opposed to 18.9, and 19.1 years for men as opposed to 18.3.
article_snippet: Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: ‘The statistics lay bare what poverty and deprivation does to children here in the UK
article_snippet: Comparisons with Third World countries were made by the Equality Trust campaign group.
article_snippet: the Equality Trust campaign group director Duncan Exley said: ‘the UK is one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
article_snippet: The figures are based on an analysis of nearly 33,000 neighbourhoods across England, but no individual district is named.