The pace of fragmentation of the UK is increasing

I hate averages. Averages tell us nothing.

The BMJ has just published a paper that looks at the inequalities in premature mortality in the UK over the period 1921 to 2007.

Bottom line conclusion is that the difference between the ‘haves’ (money, good lifestyle etc) and the ‘have nots’ (poor, bad lifestyle etc) is increasing.

As you can see, the gap in life expectancy at birth for 1999-2008 between the local authority with the highest life expectancy and the local authority with the lowest life expectancy has been increasing. The gap is the widest it has been since 1991.

OK, OK, all interesting stuff but what has this got to do with marketing. Well, if these conclusions are combined them with the results of the IFS wealth study you see importance (to marketers) of segmenting the UK into rich and poor. Trying to appeal to the ‘average’ will get you nowhere. Dick Stroud