Standing view · health · South Hams
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
Health measures in South Hams have been worsening. Adults who are obese was 25.08 in 2024/25 and deaths before age 75, per 100,000 261.25 in 2024, both recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for their year. Running the other way, adults who are obese was 13.85 in 2023/24 and the suicide rate, per 100,000 8.5 across 2021 to 2023, both favourable. Adults who are physically active stood at 72.57 in 2024/25. The obesity measure reversing sharply, with the unfavourable reading the more recent, is what tips the view.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about South Hams. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who are obese | 2023/24 | improving |
| Suicide rate, per 100,000 | 2021 - 23 | improving |
| Adults who are obese | 2024/25 | deteriorating |
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2024 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who are physically active | 2024/25 | — |