White Brits are dying faster than ethnic minorities – thanks to drinking and smoking

White people in Britain are more likely to die than ethnic minorities because of their drinking and smoking habits.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysis of death rates by ethnicity in cities and towns found that in almost all cases white British people died in greater numbers, despite being wealthier on average.

The only exception is among people of Bangladeshi background in smaller towns and cities, who die slightly more often than white British people.

In London, for example, the ONS analysis suggested that 963 white Britons out of 100,000 would die within a year.

Of a group of 100,000 people of Pakistani descent, who had the second highest mortality rate, 834 would die.

Of those of Chinese ethnicity, an average of 612 out of 100,000 people die in a year – over a third fewer than white British people.

The data, which covers the period March 2021 to May 2023, controls for differences in age and the absolute number of people in each ethnic group, meaning mortality was not higher simply because there are more white Britons in Britain.

Experts say the inequality can be at least partly attributed to the lifestyles of white British people, with smoking and drinking far more common among this group than among people from minority ethnic backgrounds.