WIREDGOV

Life expectancy for men and women continues to rise and is now 76.8 years for males and 80.9 years for females according to a report published today by National Records of Scotland.

Based on statistics covering 2011-2013, the report breaks down further the estimates published at Scotland level on 14 August 2014 which showed that life expectancy is now 76.8 years for men and 80.9 years for women in Scotland.

Commenting on the report published today, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland Tim Ellis said:

“This report shows that life expectancy continues to vary widely across Scotland.

“Life expectancy is highest in East Dunbartonshire and lowest in Glasgow City Council for both men and women. People living in rural areas, in general, live longer than those in more urban areas.

“Men in the least deprived areas of Scotland may live 12.5 years longer than those in the most deprived areas while women in the least deprived areas could expect to live 8.5 years longer than those in the most deprived.”

The key points today's report for 2011-2013 are:

At birth

• Life expectancy in Scotland was 76.8 years for males and 80.9 years for females but with considerable variation between areas.
• Male and female life expectancy was highest in East Dunbartonshire Council area and lowest in Glasgow City Council area. Males in East Dunbartonshire can expect to live for 80.5 years, 7.5 years longer than in Glasgow City (73.0 years). Females in East Dunbartonshire can expect to live for 83.9 years, 5.4 years longer than in Glasgow City (78.5 years).
• The NHS Board area with the highest male life expectancy was Borders (79.3 years), with female life expectancy being highest in Orkney (82.5 years); the NHS Board area with the lowest male life expectancy was Greater Glasgow and Clyde (74.9 years), with female life expectancy also lowest in Greater Glasgow and Clyde at 80.0 years.
• The Community Health Partnership area where male and female life expectancy was highest was East Dunbartonshire at 80.5 years and 83.9 years respectively. Glasgow City had the lowest life expectancy for males (73.0 years) and females (78.5 years).
• Life expectancy at birth was highest for males in remote rural areas (79.2 years), where they can expect to live nearly 3.6 years longer than males in large urban areas, who have a life expectancy at birth of 75.6 years. Female life expectancy at birth was also highest in remote rural areas (82.6 years), 2.3 years more than in large urban areas, where it was lowest (80.3 years).
• Life expectancy increases as deprivation decreases, with life expectancy at birth for males in the 10 per cent least deprived areas of Scotland (82.4 years) being expected to live for 12.5 years more than males in the 10 per cent most deprived areas (69.9 years). Females in the 10 per cent least deprived areas of Scotland can expect to live for 84.8 years, 8.5 years longer than those in the 10 per cent most deprived areas (76.3 years).

Compared with UK and Europe

• Scottish males and females have the lowest life expectancy at birth in the United Kingdom (UK). Male life expectancy is 2.1 years lower than the UK average and female life expectancy is 1.8 years lower.
• In Scotland, males and females can expect to live shorter lives (by 2.4 years and 2.1 years respectively) than in England, where male and female life expectancy is the highest in the UK.
• Amongst European Union (EU) countries, male life expectancy was highest in England (79.2 years), 2.4 years higher than in Scotland. Female life expectancy was highest in Spain (84.7 years), 3.8 years higher than in Scotland.
• Although male and female life expectancy continues to improve in Scotland, the gap between Scottish and English life expectancy for both males and females has widened since 1980-1982 by 0.4 years for both males and females.

Changes over time

• Male and female life expectancy has continued to rise across Scotland.
• The biggest improvements in male life expectancy since 2001-2003 have been in Eilean Siar Council and Western Isles NHS Board area (5.4 years).
• The biggest improvements in female life expectancy since 2001-2003 have been in East Dunbartonshire Council area, increasing by 3.4 years and Borders NHS Board area, increasing by 2.6 years.
• The gap between male and female life expectancy at birth in Scotland has decreased from 6.2 years in 1980-1982 to 4.1 years in 2011-2013. Male life expectancy has been increasing at a faster rate than for females since 2001-2003 closing the gap over this period.

At age 65

• Males in Scotland could expect to live for a further 17.3 years and females a further 19.6 years.
• East Dunbartonshire Council area had the highest male life expectancy at age 65 (19.4 years), 4.4 years higher than in Glasgow City, where it was lowest at 15.0 years. Female life expectancy at age 65 was also highest in East Dunbartonshire (21.5 years) and lowest in Glasgow City (18.2 years), a difference of 3.3 years.
• The NHS Board areas with the highest male and female life expectancy at age 65 were Orkney (18.7 years) and Shetland (20.8 years). It was lowest for males in Greater Glasgow and Clyde (16.2 years) and for females in Lanarkshire (18.7 years).
• Male and female life expectancy at age 65 is highest in East Dunbartonshire Community Health Partnership area at 19.4 years and 21.5 years respectively. Males and females in Glasgow City Community Health Partnership have the lowest life expectancy at age 65, 15.0 years and 18.2 years respectively.

Notes To Editors

The publication is available on the NRS website: 
http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/life-expectancy/life-expectancy-in-scottish-areas/life-expectancy-for-administrative-areas-within-scotland-2011-2013 

Publications about life expectancy produced by NRS are available at:
http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/life-expectancy 

A new interactive data visualisation was also published today, which allows comparisons of life expectancy at birth between council areas in Scotland. It is available on the National Records of Scotland website at:http:// www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/NRSinteractivedata/Lifeexp/lifeexp2011-2013.html. 

A report (GSSM series no. 33) on research undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to compare methodologies for calculating life expectancy figures and confidence intervals can be found on the National Statistics website: 
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/gss-methodology-series/index.html

All the figures in the report are period life expectancies and are a three year average for 2011-2013. 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. The term ‘expected to live is used in this publication for ease of reading.

Period life expectancies for the United Kingdom and its constituent countries (including the whole of Scotland) are calculated annually by ONS using complete life tables. These are available from 1980-1982 on the ONS website:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Life+Expectancies

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