The Great British Health Index
Hover over a local authority region to read its environmental and deprivation trends. The darker the value to higher the risk to health the area possesses.
About Air Pollution +
What is Air Pollution
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the air that are poisonous or harmful, particularly to the lungs, heart, and circulatory system.
Measure we used
μg/m3 of PM 2.5, based on the amount of fine particles 30 times smaller than the average human hair diameter in one cubic meter of air.
How much is ideal?
Little to none as fine particulates carry no benefit and significantly impact all living things.
What do the scores mean
High levels of fine particulate matter peaks in the air to start causing concern to the long term health when exposed to the general population. Medium levels start to be of concern for those with lower immune systems or respiratory issues at the peaks. Low levels are around the global WHO targets for an urban environment.
Risk to Health?
Air pollution causes systemic inflammation in our bodies which overactivates our immune, hormonal, and cardiovascular systems.
Possible Health Outcomes
Cardiovascular disease, decreased lung function, respiratory symptoms, premature death from heart and lung disease.
What causes air pollution?
Largely construction, fires and cooking with poor ventilation, industrial sites, vehicle exhaust and brakes.
About Heat Pollution +
What is Heat Pollution
Heat (or thermal) pollution is the presence of waste heat that unnaturally changes the resulting temperature of an environment.
Measure we used
Celsius, based on the freezing and boiling point of water.
How much is ideal?
Moderate heat around the naturally expected temperature range of the environment so biodiversity is kept.
What do the scores mean
High levels of heat mean there a peaks in the hotter months that pose a threat to health more than others. Lower scores show that the area does not heat up in the same way to other areas.
Risk to Health?
The biggest risk of heat pollution is a sustained elevated heart rate which is even more dangerous to those, such as the elderly, who may already have weakened hearts.
Possible Health Outcomes
Heat stroke, cardiovascular issues, reduced oxygen.
What causes heat pollution?
Building density, material of the environment, vehicles, industrial heat waste into water or air.
About Noise Pollution +
What is Noise Pollution
Noise pollution is the continued and damaging presence of noise in an environment.
Measure we used
Decibels, based on the increasing power and intensity of sound.
How much is ideal?
Moderate to low as there is a reasonable range of safe noise levels that don’t add up over a lifetime.
What do the scores mean
High levels of noise pollution mean that the body is continually being posed a stressor against its system. Low levels mean on average that there is an acceptable amount present in the area for nearly all people to withstand.
Risk to Health?
Longer-lasting noise activates the HPA-axis releasing several hormones such as cortisol.
Possible Health Outcomes
Insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, hormonal imbalance, immunosuppression.
What causes noise pollution?
Mainly frequent road, rail, aircraft. This measure does not include construction which can be a source of very high levels.
About Light Pollution +
What is Light Pollution
Light pollution is the artificially produced light, particularly in urban environments at night. We should ideally have as little harsh artificial light as we can manage when light isn’t naturally expected.
Measure we used
Radiance (10-9W/cm2*sr), based on the radiant energy emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a surface per solid angle over an area.
How much is ideal?
Little to moderate as short term exposure isn’t dangerous while light strength, distance, and personal conditions may contribute to negative effects.
What do the scores mean
Areas with high scores mean that the levels of nightlight can disrupt circadian rhythm with noticeable effects on development, restoration, and quality of sleep if you don’t have the ability to block the source.
Risk to Health?
While we use natural light to form our circadian rhythm around day and night, strong or sustained artificial light disrupts this process.
Possible Health Outcomes
Increased risk of breast cancer, sleep deprivation, anxiety, cardiovascular disorders.
What causes noise pollution?
Sustained illumination of the built environment at night to support human activity.
About Deprivation +
What is Deprivation
Deprivation refers to the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group expects in relation to their particular society.
Measure we used
Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), a relative score combining reported income, employment, education, health, crime, barriers to housing and services, living environment.
What do the scores mean
The IMD has a decile rank from 1 to 10 with 1 meaning the area is in the highest 10% of deprivation and 10 being in the least deprived areas. When an area is 'deprived' it has has a relative lack of basic resources to sustain a healthy lifestyle compared to the rest of the nation. It is important to note that this metric does not refer to affluence of an area and does not refer to individuals.
Risk to Health?
Chronic exposure to environments of deprivation can lead to susceptibility to mental health disorders. Many people may not experience any impacts however the IMD is a good proxy for researchers to assess whether a person experiencing a trauma will have the resources available from their surroundings to heal without impacts to the body or mind.
What causes deprivation?
Underinvestment.
About The Index +
This visualisation in an indication of the average annual levels of environmental and psychosocial stressors present in an area. A 1 x 1km grid network underpins the tool. To arrange the values according to the local authority boundaries an code was written to average the values that fell within the boundary lines. As the regions can be very large some extremes are lost to the average, therefore this visualisation is not representative of local areas and is an indication to the average levels an authority has responsible for responding to.
The data analysis was performed in partnership with global geoscience company CGG.
The Measures
Air: Particulate matter (PM 2.5) data, was downloaded from Copernicus Atmosphere Data Store. The chosen datasets for analysis covered the full year for 2019 and 2020. These datasets were chosen as they were the available datasets containing data for time-periods that covered a full year. Data sources include Satellites, Aircrafts, Ground Sensors & Others. The values shown are the average of the top 10% of values from the available data and the biological burden scale beings at 10μg/m3.
Heat: Met Office from the 2015 – 2019 summer periods. The values shown reflect the average of the top 10% of daily values. The scale is dependent in the level of biological burden which begins at 15°C.
Light: Annual time series of global VIIRS night-time lights produced from monthly cloud-free average spectral radiance grids. The value represented is the average of the full 2019 year.
Noise: 24-hour annual average noise levels within population of at least 100,000 people and 2015 average summer day and night noise exposure contours generated for London Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted Airports.
The regions of Great Britain
Scotland
Wales
The North of England
The Midlands
The South of England
Due to the unavailability of data we regret that it was not possible to include Northern Ireland.