Alternative Tube Maps: Life Expectancy

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 147 months ago

Last Updated 20 July 2012

Alternative Tube Maps: Life Expectancy


Here's the latest project from UCL's Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA): a map populated with data on life expectancy and child poverty for each Tube station.

While London's life expectancy remains broadly high, the map highlights the pockets of poverty which reduce ones chances of living to a ripe age. Save for the wealthier enclave of Canary Wharf, much of east London has a life expectancy below 80 (the UK average is currently 80.4), while child poverty is much more prevalent in southern and eastern parts of the capital. It's a pattern Charles Booth would have recognised well; as a recent piece in The Economist noted, "on the Jubilee Line, life expectancy declines by nearly a year for each stop between Westminster and Canning Town".

Budding Methusalehs may be interested to learn that the station with the highest life expectancy is Oxford Circus, where residents can expect to see their 96th birthday, although it's probably a statistical quirk based on the limited housing stock in the area rather than some magical life-preserving elixir on sale at Topshop.

See our guide to Alternative Tube Maps for more.

Previous visualisations from CASA:

London's commonest surnames

City Dashboard

The ebb and flow of public transport

London's Twitter traffic