The Manchester divide that goes well beyond a football rivalry

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Growing up in the shadow of two of the world’s most famous – and wealthiest – football clubs can give children a chance to see their sporting heroes and be within touching distance of the most prestigious trophies the beautiful game has to offer.

But, despite calling a multi-billion pound team your neighbour, children on one side of Manchester’s footballing rivalry are 50 per cent more likely to grow up impoverished.

Children are ‘50 per cent less likely to grow up in poverty (22.3 per cent) on the red side of Greater Manchester than on the blue side (44.7 per cent) – only a couple of miles down the road’, say academics.

These figures are based on public health information from the clubs' local authority area, which look at poverty; obesity; infant mortality rate; life expectancy at birth; educational attainment; and the gap in life expectancy. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. Ahead of the start of the next football season, leading academics have analysed data on a range of childhood health indicators.