How your health can affect your pension
However, there is an even bigger gap in "healthy life expectancy" between the most and least deprived areas.
Healthy life expectancy represents the average time an individual is expected to live in "very good" or "good" health.
Read more: How much money do you need to retire?
The data shows the gap has become a yawning chasm, with someone in the most deprived areas of England having a healthy life expectancy of early fifties at best. In Wales, healthy life expectancy at birth for women in the most deprived areas stands at just 47.9.
This is compared to a healthy life expectancy of around 70 years of age for men and women in the least deprived areas of England. In Wales, it's more like 68 years.
These figures are significant in showing the impact of people's financial situation on their quality of life.
Poor health and a lower healthy life expectancy can also have a huge impact on our ability to keep working and have a knock-on effect on our long-term finances.
State pension age is currently set at 66 and is on its way up to age 67 soon. It forms the absolute foundation of most people's retirement income and yet many people may not be in a position to keep working until anywhere near that age.
Added to this is the effect on their ability to build up adequate savings in their workplace pensions. If their health means they can't continue working, then they end up with less in their pension.
It's an uncomfortable fact that doesn't get talked about enough. What happens when people's working lives are curtailed by poor health? And how do they bridge the gap?
Read more: Key questions to ask yourself to plan for a comfortable retirement
It's a topic sure to be at the heart of any government discussion around increasing state pension age, because there is a risk that even the healthiest of people may not be able to keep working until their late sixties or even seventies in their current role.
It shows the importance of making sure the workplace can help support older workers and those who care for them. This could be through re-training into different roles or more flexibility as to where and when work is done.
A more flexible future could potentially be a gamechanger in helping people stay in the workforce for longer so they can build their financial resilience.
It can be easy to take good health for granted but this may not always be the case. It's a good idea to take the opportunity to pay more into your pension as and when you can, if you are able to do this.
Read more:
This under-claimed benefit could help boost your pension
How far will your pension go as retirement costs soar?
Should people keep working until later in life?
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