Men living in Heswall have a life expectancy twelve years longer than those in Rock Ferry, a new report has revealed.

The shocking statistic is called out in Wirral Intelligence Services' annual Wirral Compendium. The document is a quick reference guide to the borough’s statistics covering a range of areas.

The thirteenth compendium provides information and data about Wirral’s population, children and young people, health and wellbeing, mortality, economy and business, transport, housing and the environment, and crime and safety of residents.

Cllr Chris Jones, Wirral Council cabinet member for adult care and health, said: “The 2020 compendium includes more information than all previous versions, with new research and data on issues such as climate change, obesity, and NHS Health Check uptakes.

“It is a fantastic tool for Wirral, as it allows us to learn more about our population, the borough’s complexities and variety of needs – which in turn informs our local priorities for health, wellbeing and other areas.”

The compendium reveals that Wirral has a population of 322,796 with a higher proportion of older people and a lower proportion of working age people compared to England.

It projects that the borough's population will increase 1.6% by 2039 to 328,500.

Life expectancy varies considerably in Wirral; ranging from 72 in Rock Ferry to 84 in Heswall, a difference of 12 years for men.

For woman the range is nine years - 78 in Rock Ferry and 87 in Heswall.

There were 3,242 births in Wirral in 2018. This was the lowest number of births for over 40 years.

Healthy Life Expectancy (HLEx) data shows that people in Wirral spend around three-quarters of their life in good health; this is lower than in England.

Overall, one in five (22%) of the population reported that their day-to-day activities were limited in some way by an illness or disability in the 2011 Census, but this hides large variations by age (from just 7% in those aged below 35 to 83% of those aged 85 and over).

Cllr Jones said: “In recent months, we have all felt the impact of COVID-19, in our communities and our personal lives.

"Much work is ongoing across the borough to understand the impact of the virus on our communities, this work will be reported in due course as data becomes available and we begin to understand its impact on health and wellbeing in the borough.”

The full Wirral Compendium can be viewed by clicking here.