Latest Life Expectancy Figures Announced

4th September 2007

Scottish life expectancy has improved in the last 10 years, a new report has revealed.

The Registrar General for Scotland today published a report "Life Expectancy for Administrative Areas within Scotland 2004-2006". The report on life expectancy by council and NHS board areas of Scotland.

The data, based on the period 2004-2006, shows that life expectancy at birth for Scotland has improved from 72.1 years to 74.6 years for men and 77.8 years to 79.6 years for women.

Commenting on these results, the Registrar General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said: “Our calculations show that people throughout Scotland are likely to live longer now than they did 10 years ago. But that improvement is not spread equally. Life expectancy for men in Shetland has risen by almost five years – but by only two months in Clackmannanshire. For women, life expectancy in East Dunbartonshire has increased by almost three years, but in East Ayrshire by only eight months”.

The key points in this report are:

At Birth:

Life expectancy at birth for Scotland was 74.6 years for men and 79.6 years for women. This varied considerably between areas in Scotland
The council area with the highest male life expectancy was East Dunbartonshire (78.0 years), 7.5 years more than Glasgow City, the lowest at 70.5 years
East Renfrewshire was the council area with the highest life expectancy for women (81.9 years), 4.9 years more than Glasgow City (lowest at 77.0 years)
The NHS board area with the lowest figure for both men and women was Greater Glasgow & Clyde (72.5 and 78.2 years respectively)
The highest figures were for Shetland NHS board area: men (76.6 years) and women (81.5 years)

At age 65:

Life expectancy at age 65 for Scotland was 15.9 years for men and 18.6 years for women
The council area with the highest life expectancy at age 65 for men and women was Shetland (18.0 years and 20.5 years respectively), 4.2 years for men and 3.2 years for women more than Glasgow City
The NHS board area with the lowest figure for men was Greater Glasgow & Clyde (14.7 years). The lowest figure for women was in Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Lanarkshire (both 17.9 years). Shetland had the highest for both men and women (18.0 years and 20.5 years respectively)

Compared with 10 years ago in 1994-1996:

Life expectancy at birth for Scotland has improved from 72.1 years to 74.6 years for men and 77.8 years to 79.6 years for women
The gap between men and women is closing, dropping from 5.7 years to 5.0 years over the period
Although some areas had only very small increases in life expectancy over the 10 year period, there were no areas (council or NHS board area) that experienced a decrease
The gap between highest and lowest council areas for men remained the same at 7.5 years but, for women, the gap increased from 4.4 years in 1994-1996 to 4.9 years in 2004-2006
The biggest rise in life expectancy for men was in Shetland with 4.9 years and East Dunbartonshire (2.7 years) for women
The smallest rise was in Clackmannanshire (0.2 years) for men and East Ayrshire (0.7 years) for women.

Notes to News Editors

1. This is the third publication dedicated to life expectancy produced by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). Previous reports have presented separate life expectancy figures for men and women. In this report, the analysis concentrates on figures for the two sexes but also, for the first time, gives life expectancy at birth for the whole population. It also gives figures for the new NHS board areas created following the dissolution of NHS Argyll & Clyde on March 31, 2006. NHS Argyll & Clyde was split between Greater Glasgow and Highland resulting in two new NHS Board areas named Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Highland.

2. This publication uses the revised mid-year population estimates 2003-2006 published by GROS on July 27, 2007. These were revised following a review of the methodology used and more information can be found on the GROS website.

3. Our previous publications dedicated to life expectancy are available on this website.

4. The report "Life Expectancy at Birth: Methodological Options for Small Populations" (PDF 307 Kb) detailing the research undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to compare methodologies for calculating life expectancy figures and confidence intervals is available on the Office for National Statistics website.

5. All the figures in these reports are period life expectancies and are a three year average for the relevant years. They are produced by aggregating deaths and population data for the three year period, which provides large enough numbers to ensure that the figures published in the report are robust. Period life expectancy at birth for a given area and time period is an estimate of the average number of years a new born baby would survive if he/she experienced the particular area’s age specific mortality rate for that time period throughout his/her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not the number of years a baby born in the area in the period is expected to live, both because death rates are likely to change in the future and because many of the newborns may live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives.

6. Period life expectancies for the United Kingdom and its constituent countries (including the whole of Scotland) are calculated annually by ONS using interim life tables. These interim life tables are available for 1980-1982 to 2003-2005 from the National Statistics website.

7. Because of the differences between complete (single year of age) and abridged (grouped years) life tables, the Scotland level figures presented in this publication may differ slightly from those published by ONS.

8. The "Life Expectancy for Administrative Areas within Scotland 2004-2006" publication is being made available through the GROS website. Hard copies of the publication can be requested from our Statistics Customer Services team using our contact form.

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