Standing view · health · Harlow
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
Health measures in Harlow have been worsening, on a divided set of readings. Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 was 390.72 in 2023 and adults who are obese 32.98 in 2024/25, both recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for their year. Running the other way, deaths before age 75, per 100,000 was 345.01 in 2024 and the suicide rate, per 100,000 6.16 across 2022 to 2024, both favourable. Hospital admissions for COPD, aged 35 and over, per 100,000 stood at 374.77 in 2023/24 and children who are physically active at 43 in 2024/25.
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 Harlow. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2023 | deteriorating |
| Adults who are obese | 2024/25 | deteriorating |
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2024 | improving |
| Suicide rate, per 100,000 | 2022 - 24 | improving |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital admissions for COPD, aged 35 and over, per 100,000 | 2023/24 | — |
| Children who are physically active | 2024/25 | — |