The Conversation | SRB Brown/Alamy
Although deaths of despair were originally thought to be a specifically American problem, researchers have been concerned that similar patterns exist elsewhere. New research from my colleague Eurwen Williams and myself suggests they do. And in England and Wales, they are particularly common in one type of place: former coal mining communities. Above: Colourful rows of terraced houses in the Rhondda Fach, a former coal mining valley in south Wales.