'Making Life Better' is the strategic framework for public health in Northern Ireland. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) published the Making Life Better: Monitoring the Wider Social Determinants of Health & Wellbeing – Key Indicators report on 20 May 2015.
The statistical bulletin is an update of the Making Life Better: Monitoring the Wider Social Determinants of Health & Wellbeing – Key Indicators & Baselines 2014 report and presents the revised baseline positions for the key indicators set out against each of the themes contained in the Making Life Better strategic framework as well as an analysis of the scale of inequalities, geographical breakdown and recent trends in relation to a number of the indicators.
Key Points
- In 2009-11, the differential in life expectancy between the Northern Ireland average and the 20% most deprived areas was 4.1 years for males and 2.6 years for females.
- In 2009/10 to 2011/12, the standardised rate for alcohol-related admissions in the 20% most deprived areas (1,521 admissions per 100,000 of the population) was more than double that in the wider region (669 admissions per 100,000 of the population).
- The teenage birth rate for mothers under the age of 17 was 2.2 live births per 1,000 females in 2011, with a rate of 4.6 live births per 1,000 females within the 20% most deprived areas.
- In 2009-11, the rate of suicide within the 20% most deprived areas (29.6 per 100,000 of the population) was almost three and a half times the rate within the 20% least deprived areas (8.6 per 100,000 of the population).
The percentage of mothers living in the 20% most deprived areas that smoked during pregnancy in 2012 (29.6%) was almost twice as high as the Northern Ireland average (16.5%) and almost four times higher than mothers living in the 20% least deprived areas (7.8%).
- In 2009/10-2011/12, 23% of children living in Northern Ireland were in relative poverty (before housing costs).
- In quarter ending September 2012, 16.7% of 16 to 24 year olds were not in employment, full-time education or training (NEETS).
- In 2011/12, school leavers in the 10% least deprived areas in Northern Ireland were more than twice as likely to achieve at least 5 GCSEs (83.0%) than those residing in the 10% most deprived areas (40.1%).
- In 2012, 42.3% of mothers were breastfeeding on discharge from hospital; over 50% more than the proportion within the 20% most deprived areas (27.6%)
