Life-Expectancy in Scotland

The life expectancy of people born in many parts of Scotland has fallen, as health chiefs continue to be worried about the worsening figures. After decades of steady improvement, progress has stalled in almost all areas of Scotland according to official figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS). Life expectancy is now going backwards in many parts of Scotland. Dundee, Inverclyde, the Borders and Ayrshire are all seeing falls in their life expectancy

Men can now expect to live to 77 in Scotland and women having a longer lifespan of 81.1, according to the latest figures covering the cohort of Scots born between 2016-18.

Dundee has the fastest falling life expectancy for men and Inverclyde for women, with a negative growth rate of over 15 weeks per year each. This means a baby born between 2016 and 2018 in these areas is expected to live at least 15 weeks less than one born in previous years.

Inequality is also getting worse, with those living in the least deprived areas living significantly longer and healthier lives than those in more deprived areas. Males in the most deprived areas of Scotland could expect to live for 13.1 fewer years than those in the least deprived areas, while the equivalent gap for females was 9.8 years. Deprivation has an even bigger effect on healthy life expectancy with males in the least deprived areas spending 23.0 extra years in good health compared to those in the most deprived areas. For females, the healthy life expectancy gap was 23.9 years.