Life expectancy in Dundee falls as Glasgow worst in Scotland

The sharpest fall in life expectancy for men at birth was felt in Dundee, Gloucester, Hartlepool and Norwich between 2012 to 2014 and 2015 to 2017.

In Dundee, Gloucester and Norwich, the average age fell by 1.4 years to 73.9 years, 77.6 years and 78.3 years respectively. The town of Hartlepool fell by 1.5 years in the same period to 76.1 years.

Of the 389 local authorities ranked by the Office for National Statistics, 19 areas experienced a significant increase.

London Borough of Camden ranked first across all local authority areas in the UK for women once again, while Haringey in north London had the largest positive change, jumping from 301st place to 54th.

“It is unacceptable that there are still deep-rooted health inequalities across the UK,” George McNamara, director of policy and influencing at the Independent Age charity, said.

“Healthy life expectancy should not be a postcode lottery and it’s absolutely essential that we understand and address these inequalities.

“Older age is not just about living longer, but also about having a good quality of life in older age, no matter where you live.”

Life expectancy for men in Scotland’s most deprived areas was meanwhile 13 years lower than in the least deprived parts.

The difference for women is 9.6 years, according to National Records of Scotland statistics.

New figures show average life expectancy for Scots born from 2015 to 2017 has fallen slightly, with men now expected to live until 77 and women until they are 81.1 years old.

Compared with the UK as a whole, men in Scotland are expected to live 2.2 years fewer than average and woman 1.8 years.

Glasgow city was revealed to have the lowest life expectancy for both men and women at 73.3 and 78.7 respectively, while it was highest in East Renfrewshire, where males can expect to live for 80.5 years and females for 83.7 years.

Life expectancy can vary by as much as 7.2 years between council areas in Scotland.

It has decreased or stalled over the last year in 20 out of 32 local authority areas for males and in 18 areas for females.

The report by National Records of Scotland states: “Deprivation is strongly linked to life expectancy.

“In 2015 to 2017, males born in the 10 per cent most deprived areas within Scotland could expect to live 13 years fewer than those in the 10 per cent least deprived area.

“For females, the gap was 9.6 years.”

Broken down by health board, the statistics show men have the lowest life expectancy in Greater Glasgow and Clyde but for women it is in Lanarkshire.

The UK-wide figures also show the most common age to die is 86.4 years for men and 88.9 years for women.