Photo by Marian May on Unsplash
As always, we welcome comments, feedback and suggestions. If you've come across an interesting dataset, publication or piece of local intelligence that others may find useful, we'd love to hear from you.
We also welcome your photos of Suffolk to use in a future blog!
Email us at: knowledgeandIntelligence@suffolk.gov.uk
New men's health profile
A new Men's Health Profile has been published as part of the Suffolk Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), bringing together local data and evidence on men's health outcomes, inequalities and opportunities for prevention across the county.
The profile highlights that men continue to experience poorer health outcomes than women across a range of measures. Men are more likely to die prematurely, are disproportionately affected by conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and face higher risks from suicide, accidents and substance misuse. While these challenges are seen nationally, the profile explores what they mean for Suffolk's communities and how outcomes vary by deprivation, geography, disability and other factors.
Importantly, the profile emphasises that men's health is shaped by much more than individual behaviours. Factors such as employment, income, housing, social connections and access to services all play a role. The evidence suggests that improving men's health requires a population health approach that recognises the different experiences of men across the lifecourse and addresses the barriers that can prevent people from accessing support when they need it.
The profile identifies several opportunities for action, including improving uptake of NHS Health Checks, focusing on the causes of the male life expectancy gap, strengthening prevention and early intervention, and using local intelligence to better understand which groups of men are being reached by services and where unmet need remains.
As Suffolk's male population continues to grow and age, understanding men's health needs will become increasingly important for planning services and reducing health inequalities. The profile aims to support partners across health, care, local government and the voluntary sector to make informed decisions and improve outcomes for men and boys across Suffolk.
Read the full profile: Men's Health Profile 2026
New population estimates for England and Wales - Mid 2025
New population estimates for England and Wales have been published. These estimates help us understand how local populations are changing and underpin much of the planning and analysis undertaken across health and local government.
- The population of England and Wales continued to grow in the year to mid-2025, reaching an estimated 62.0 million people.
- The size of England and Wales is estimated to have increased by 224,900 (0.4%) from mid-2024, the lowest rate of increase since mid-2020. This was primarily because of a fall in international net migration, but natural change (births minus deaths) was also slightly lower in the year to mid-2025.
- Estimates are also provided for Suffolk and the Lower Tier Local Authorities within Suffolk:
- Suffolk: 789,850
- Babergh: 97,833
- East Suffolk: 250,106
- Ipswich: 139,457
- Mid Suffolk: 113,047
- West Suffolk: 189,407
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produce these estimates. They note that these estimates are subject to statistical uncertainty, particularly for smaller geographic areas and detailed age-sex breakdowns. They have published research-based measures of statistical uncertainty alongside the estimates, which can be found in our accompanying datasets.
View the Population profiles for local areas below to find out more about local population data!
Four for you - Recent national publications:
- School belonging matters: Nuffield Foundation explore the growing evidence linking pupils' sense of belonging with wellbeing, attendance and educational outcomes, at a time when children's mental health concerns remain high.
- New neighbourhood healthy life expectancy data: ONS have released healthy life expectancy estimates for small areas across England and Wales, revealing variation in the number of years people can expect to live in good health.
- Latest national crime picture published: The newest ONS crime statistics show differing trends across crime types, with findings on anti-social behaviour, harassment and fraud particularly relevant to wider determinants of health discussions.
- Cancer and ageing: Cancer Research UK examine how cancer outcomes vary with age, highlighting the growing importance of prevention, screening and equitable access to diagnosis and treatment in an ageing population.
This month the JSNA workplan is focused on:
- Finalising a women's health profile
- Finalising a sickle cell profile
- Finalising a gambling profile
- Finalising an inclusion health profile
- Starting work on a new sexual health profile / needs assessment
- Scoping new profiles on the end of life, alcohol, substance misuse, and respiratory health
- Planning for the Annual Public Health Report 2026
The Suffolk Observatory
The Suffolk Observatory contains all Suffolk’s vital statistics. It is the one-stop-shop for data, statistics and reports all about Suffolk provided by a variety of organisations.
Through data, reports and analysis, the Suffolk Observatory provides a comprehensive picture of the county and is a great source for useful facts and figures that will help you write reports and presentations, inform strategic and business planning, prepare funding applications or support academic research.
