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Increase in Scottish Life Expectancy

The Registrar General for Scotland today published a report on life expectancy in Scottish Council and NHS Board areas.

The report, based on the period 2007-2009, shows that life expectancy at birth for Scotland has improved over the last 10 years from 72.7 years to 75.4 years for men and from 78.2 years to 80.1 years for women.

Commenting on these results, Registrar General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said:

“Scottish men and women are living longer and men are closing the traditional gap between their life expectancy and women’s. While life expectancy in Scotland continues to be lower than the UK and European average, there are no council or NHS Board areas where life expectancy has decreased over the last decade.”

The key points in this report for 2007-2009 are:

At birth:

At age 65:

• Men could expect to live for a further 16.5 years for men and women a further 19.1 years;
• The Council area with the highest life expectancy at age 65 for men (18.3 years) and women (20.9 years) was East Dunbartonshire, 4.4 years more for men and 3.3 years more for women than Glasgow City, which had the lowest life expectancy at age 65 for men and women.

Compared with 10 years ago in 1997-1999: 

• Life expectancy at birth in Scotland has increased by 2.7 years for men (from 72.7 years to 75.4 years) and 1.9 years for women (from 78.2 years to 80.1 years);
• The gap between male and female life expectancy continues to close, dropping from  5.5 years in 1997-1999 to 4.8 years in 2007-2009;
• There were no Council or NHS Board areas where life expectancy decreased over the 10 year period, although increases in life expectancy were as low as 1.6 per cent;
• For men, the gap between the highest and lowest life expectancy in Council areas decreased by 0.6 years – from 7.8 years in 1997-1999 to 7.2 years in 2007-2009. However, for women, the gap increased by 0.4 years – from 5.2 years to 5.6 years. In NHS Board areas the gap in life expectancy decreased by 0.5 years for men (from 4.6 years to 4.1 years) but increased by 0.1 years for women (from 3.0 years to 3.1 years);
• Among Council areas, the biggest rise in life expectancy for men was in West Lothian (3.9 years) and for women was in East Dunbartonshire (3.6 years). The smallest rise in life expectancy was in East Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire (both 1.5 years) for men, and Fife (1.2 years) for women.

Compared with the UK and Europe:

• Scottish men and women have among the lowest life expectancy at birth in the EU27 countries;
• Scottish men and women can expect to live slightly shorter lives (1.0 years and 2.3 years respectively) than the EU27 average;
• Making comparison with the EU27 countries which have the highest life expectancies, Scottish men can expect to live 4.0 years less than Swedish men and Scottish women can expect to live 4.9 years less than French women;
• Based on 2007 figures, life expectancy at birth within the UK is 2.5 years higher for men than in Scotland and 1.8 years higher for women;
• Scotland’s position relative to the UK and EU27 average figures is not improving and has worsened over the past 5 years.

The full publication, Life Expectancy for Administrative Areas within Scotland 2007-2009 is available on this website.