In 2005 the Guardian reported

In 2005 the Guardian reported on statistics released by the
End Child Poverty coalition showing that 450,000 of 1.5 million children in the
region were living below the breadline. Research involving over 75 organizations,
including Barnardos and the Children’s Society, revealed 215 wards where 30 per
cent or more children were living on benefits, with concentrations in Greater
Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire. In Salford 60.8 per cent lived
on benefits while in Hulme the figure was 68.5 per cent and in the Granby ward
in Liverpool it was 71.9 per cent.

Such levels of poverty clearly have
an impact on quality of life but also affect life expectancy itself. On average
a boy from Manchester will die seven years before his compatriot in Barnet; a
girl from Manchester six years before a girl from the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea. Jonathan Stearn, the director of End Child Poverty,
said: