A new report from Manchester City Council has laid bare the stark inequalities between the city's communities, showing that boys born to mothers in the most deprived areas are likely to live eight years less than those born in the least deprived neighbourhoods. For girls, the gap is seven years.
The report also admits that the life expectancy gap in Manchester has not narrowed significantly, raising concerns at the town hall about the pace of progress.
Deprivation divide across the city
Harpurhey, around eight miles from Didsbury, was ranked the most deprived part of Manchester in the 2025 indices of deprivation, alongside Gorton and Abbey Hey, and Miles Platting and Newton Heath. On the other side of the rankings sit Didsbury, Deansgate, and Chorlton, which make up the least deprived parts of the city.
The journey between these areas can take 30 minutes by car, passing the Etihad Campus and the gleaming towers of the city centre before arriving in trendy Didsbury, yet they sit on opposite ends of the scale of poverty and deprivation.
Council's five-year plan to tackle inequalities
Councillor Joanne Green, the council's lead on health and social matters in Manchester, said the town hall has a five-year plan to tackle preventable inequalities, known as the Making Manchester Fairer action plan. The council recognises that deeply entrenched inequalities can start before birth and last throughout life.
Officials say progress is being made, with changes in the last 12 months including growing numbers of people being paid the real living wage, more children ready to start school, more affordable housing being built, and increasing community influence on policy decisions.
Coun Green said: "Tackling inequalities is of major importance because it not only affects people's health and even how long they live, but also their wider life opportunities."
She added: "That's why Manchester City Council and its partners developed the Making Manchester Fairer Action Plan. This five-year plan has a focus on the preventable inequalities that affect health which are often rooted in social factors like living conditions, income, housing, education, employment, discrimination and where people live."
Poverty as the biggest determinant
Graham Whitham, chief executive at Resolve Poverty, said: "The life expectancy figures are shocking but not surprising. We know that poverty is the single biggest determinant of poor outcomes for people, whether that relates to how well they do at school, their career, or their health and wellbeing."
He added: "Not only do people with experience of poverty die at an earlier age, but they are also much more likely to suffer from life-limiting illnesses earlier in life."
Whitham said the main levers to address poverty sit with central government, noting that the government scrapped the two-child limit on benefits earlier in the year, a step he described as transformative, but he called for further action on the benefit cap and Local Housing Allowance rates. He also highlighted the role of local initiatives, including creating good-quality jobs and supporting people to access benefits and deal with problem debt.
