One in 20 people in the Maldon district say they are suffering from poor health.

Figures show 4.2 per cent of people in the district reported bad or very bad health as of the 2021 census.

And one in five of all 38,875 adults in the workforce in the area were economically inactive during the same period.

Separate figures show the healthy life expectancy in all of Essex was 64.2 years for men and 65.9 for women in 2018 to 2020.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said its analysis shows people living in the most deprived areas are nearly one and a half times more likely to experience economic inactivity and are twice as likely to be in poor health than those in the least deprived authorities.

A government spokesman said: “We are committed to increasing healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 and narrowing the gap between local areas by 2030 including by investing up to £14.1 billion to improve health services and help people live longer, healthier lives."