Dudley and Walsall in the West Midlands have been placed first and second in a list of UK places that "you're least likely to get healthy in".
They're followed by Wakefield in West Yorkshire, while Wigan in Greater Manchester comes fourth in the survey by sports betting website SBO.
Researchers used a range of data for the list, including the number of gyms, sports clubs, parks, cycle routes, swimming pools and fast-food restaurants in a given area, and rated cities and towns using what it calls a "weighted index".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The scoring system adds the figure in each category and divides the total by the number of cities, ranking 31 locations from worst to best.
As a result, it finds that Dudley, the capital of the Black Country, has just three gyms for every 100,000 people. Walsall, meanwhile, tops the chart for fast-food outlets, with 14 for every 100,000 residents.
Perhaps surprisingly, London is the fifth least-healthiest place to live. The capital boasts the highest number of public parks in the list but has the fewest number of sports clubs/shops per capita. It also scores poorly on swimming pools.
Bristol, a mere two-hour drive from Dudley, has been named the country's healthiest city. It's particularly well provided for in sports clubs/shops and in cycling routes - 234 per 100,000. Nottingham and Edinburgh rank come a close second and third.
Other cities with outstanding features include Manchester, which has the highest number of swimming pools per 100,000, and Kingston-upon-Hull, which tops the list for public parks.
Commenting on the findings, nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert told the Daily Mail: "Given the affordability of the widely available fast food chains found in these top cities, coupled with a lack of sports facilities, it's little wonder why residents are suffering from poor health."
Unhealthiest places:
Dudley
Walsall
Wakefield
Wigan
London
Wolverhampton
Rotherham
Bradford
Birmingham
LeedsHealthiest places:
Bristol
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Cardiff
Plymouth
Swansea
Kingston-upon-Hull
Belfast
Bolton
Derby
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A silver-painted boy, a raging flood, and more
-
Roblox, one of the world's most popular video games, has become a bastion of hate speechThe Explainer The platform has over 111 million daily users
-
Russian strike on Kyiv kills 23, hits EU officesSpeed Read The strike was the second-largest since Russia invaded in 2022
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
