Standing view · health · Barking and Dagenham
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
Adults who are obese in Barking and Dagenham accounted for 35.02% in 2024/25, an unfavourable movement, and adults who are physically active 57.36% in 2023/24. Hospital admissions for COPD among those aged 35 and over were 697.36 per 100,000 in 2023/24. The suicide rate was 4.92 per 100,000 over the pooled period 2022 to 2024, a favourable movement. Of the two measures with a recorded direction, the suicide rate improved and obesity worsened.
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 Barking and Dagenham. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who are obese | 2024/25 | deteriorating |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who are physically active | 2023/24 | — |
| Hospital admissions for COPD, aged 35 and over, per 100,000 | 2023/24 | — |