What are the healthiest cities in the UK?
A nationwide health survey of over 38,000 people has revealed that Exeter is the fourth healthiest city in the UK, with Plymouth finishing nineteenth.
Babylon Health collected data from 38,800 users of its Healthcheck app across the UK. They assigned a score out of 100 to every city in the UK based on nine indicators of a healthy lifestyle. The higher the score, the healthier the city:
- Diet: Alcohol units per week; drinking (times per week); fruit & veg portions per day
- Smoking: Cigarettes per day; % of smokers; % of quitters vs smokers
- Exercise: Moderate exercise (minutes per week); intense exercise (minutes per week); resistance exercise (days per week)
Explore the research here: https://www.babylonhealth.com/c/healthiest-habits/
Exeter finished in fourth place scoring 64.9 points, and Plymouth finished in nineteenth position scoring 58.3 points. The top five cities are all in the South of England.
The average Exeter resident consumes 6.4 units of alcohol per week (equivalent to two large glasses of wine), drinks twice per week, and has three portions of fruits and veg a day.
29% of adults in Exeter smoke, averaging nine cigarettes per day, and an impressive 38% of people who once smoked have now quit.
People in Exeter do 104 minutes of moderate exercise, 39 minutes of intense exercise, and resistance exercise 1.6 times per week.
| City | Overall score /100 | Alcohol units per week | Drinking (times per week) | Fruit & veg (portions per day) | Cigarettes per day | % of smokers | % of quitters to smokers | Moderate exercise (mins per week) | Intense exercise (mins per week) |
Resistance exercise (times per week) |
| Chichester | 74.1 | 5.3 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 13 | 15.8 | 67.9 | 125.5 | 39.5 | 1.5 |
| Cambridge | 69 | 5 | 3 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 15.9 | 57.6 | 116.9 | 37.5 | 1 |
| Oxford | 66.6 | 5.1 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 7.4 | 20.7 | 46.2 | 114.2 | 38.3 | 1.2 |
| Exeter | 64.9 | 6.4 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 9.3 | 28.8 | 37.5 | 104.4 | 39.1 | 1.6 |
| Canterbury | 64.4 | 4.8 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 12.9 | 27.4 | 44.7 | 116.3 | 32.3 | 1.5 |
| St Asaph | 64.1 | 1.9 | 2 | 2.2 | 15 | 24.4 | 50 | 118.6 | 34.6 | 1.1 |
| St Albans | 63.6 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 9 | 25 | 39.6 | 118.1 | 42.6 | 1.2 |
| Bath | 63.3 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 3 | 10.3 | 19.7 | 50.9 | 118.6 | 32.5 | 1.2 |
| Edinburgh | 62.8 | 5.9 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 8.5 | 23.5 | 43.9 | 116.9 | 36.5 | 1.2 |
| Lincoln | 62.4 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 12 | 22.3 | 57.1 | 117.1 | 27.9 | 1.1 |
What are the least healthy cities in the UK?
The bottom ten cities are all in the Midlands, North of England or Scotland.
| City | Overall score /100 | Alcohol units per week | Drinking (times per week) | Fruit & veg (portions per day) | Cigarettes per day | % of smokers | % of quitters to smokers | Moderate exercise (mins per week) | Intense exercise (mins per week) |
Resistance exercise (times per week) |
| Sunderland | 42.1 | 4.4 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 10.6 | 37.8 | 26.3 | 94.5 | 20.7 | 0.7 |
| Hull | 43 | 4.2 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 15.8 | 38.8 | 35.5 | 92.5 | 19.7 | 0.6 |
| Stirling | 43.2 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 19.3 | 22.6 | 53.8 | 90.8 | 21.4 | 0.6 |
| Salford | 48.4 | 5.1 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 12.9 | 31.2 | 33.8 | 104.3 | 26.8 | 0.8 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 48.8 | 7.9 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 9.5 | 35.4 | 28.7 | 112.8 | 29 | 1.1 |
| Lichfield | 49.2 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 14.1 | 44.2 | 34.3 | 106.4 | 24.2 | 1 |
| Bradford | 49.3 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 2 | 11 | 32.4 | 36.9 | 100.9 | 24.7 | 0.8 |
| Dundee | 50 | 5.3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 11.2 | 33.3 | 28.1 | 104.2 | 28.4 | 1 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 50.5 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 10.7 | 41.6 | 27.8 | 102.1 | 25.9 | 0.9 |
| Wolverhampton | 50.7 | 3.3 | 3 | 2.2 | 13.8 | 25 | 48.1 | 95.9 | 26 | 0.8 |
South West is UK's fourth healthiest region
At a regional level, the South West is the UK's fourth healthiest region, behind Greater London, South East and East of England.
