Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

Living well

Living well is essential in helping us manage our health and maintain our independence.  Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, such as smoking or drinking alcohol, determine the burden of disease and illness within a population. Some of the risk factors for the city are highlighted below. 

Key facts

  • Smoking prevalence in Liverpool has reduced from 22% in 2011 to 15.6% in 2020, significantly worse than nationally (12.1%).
  • In 2020/21, 65.9% Liverpool adults were classified as either overweight or obese, which is significantly worse than the national average (63.5%).
  • In Liverpool, around 46.7% of adults consume the recommended ‘5-a-day’ which is the lowest out of the 8 core cities and significantly below nationally (55.4%).
  • Around 26.9% of adults (aged 19+) are physically inactive (<30 moderate intensity equivalent minutes per week), significantly higher than England (23.4%) and the 2nd highest among 8 core cities.
  • Hospital admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in the city are more than 2 times the national average with around 5,220 per year, and Liverpool’s premature mortality rate for liver disease is 1.5 times higher than the national rate.
  • Drug misuse is a significant cause of premature mortality in the UK. Around 56 people die from drug misuse each year in the city. Liverpool’s rate of 12.9 per 100,000 is 2.6 times higher than the national rate and the 5th highest in England.
  • There are around 4,031 new Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) diagnoses in the city each year and our diagnosis rate of 805.4 per 100,000 population is significantly higher than nationally (562.2 per 100,000).
  • 3,174 people are known by their GP to have a learning disability (0.6% compared to 0.5% nationally).

Detailed needs assessments 

The following health needs assessments have been published in relation to living well: 

Local strategies 

Liverpool information 

Office for Health Improvements and Disparities profiles

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