MEN born in Scotland's most affluent areas can expect to live 12-and-a-half years longer than those in the poorest parts of the country, figures have revealed.
Life expectancy for boys born in the 10 per cent least deprived areas in 2011/13 was put at 82.4 years, against 69.9 years for those born in the 10 per cent most deprived areas.
That means males born in the poorest parts of Scotland can expect to live almost 10 years fewer than the average man in England, who has a life expectancy of 79.2 years - the highest of any country in the European Union.
The data from the National Records of Scotland also shows the life expectancy gap between Scotland and England has widened over the last three decades, and is now 0.4 years higher for both sexes than it was in 1980/82.
Women born in the most deprived areas of Scotland can also expect to have a shorter life than those in the wealthiest areas, with a gap of 8.5 years between the life expectancy in the poorest 10 per cent of areas (76.3 years) and the most affluent 10 per cent (84.8 years).
Overall, life expectancy for males in Scotland has risen 3.4 years over the last decade, with boys born between 2011 and 2013 expected to reach 76.9 years of age.
The increase in life expectancy for females over this period has been smaller, up 2.1 years to stand at 80.9 years.
But women in England can expect to live 2.1 years longer than this, while Spain has the highest female life expectancy in Europe at 84.7 years - 3.8 years more than in Scotland.
Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy for men and women in Scotland, with the latest figures putting it at 73 years for men and 78.5 for women.
East Dunbartonshire is the local authority with the highest life expectancy for both sexes, with men expected to live to 80.5 years - 7.5 years more than in Scotland's largest city.
For women the difference is 5.4 years, with females in East Dunbartonshire having a life expectancy of 83.9 years.
MSP Jackson Carlaw, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "Any increase in life expectancy is welcome, but we have to appreciate this brings with it additional challenges for the NHS and local authorities.
"We need to face up to the fact we have an ageing population, and that is going to put an incredible burden on health services and pension funds in years to come."
He added: "There are also grim statistics in relation to health inequalities, with more than a decade's difference in some cases between how long someone can expect to live.
"That ties into almost every health statistic we see, whether it is in relation to cancer survival rates or vulnerability to alcohol dependence.
"This is another major challenge we face, and it is a case of driving the message home and ensuring the NHS is well-enough resourced to cope."
Mr Carlaw said it was also down to people taking personal responsibility for good diet and maintaining an active lifestyle wherever they live.
Tim Ellis, chief executive of National Records of Scotland, said: "This report shows 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."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article