Life expectancy in Scotland has fallen, with local areas overrepresented in the lowest categories and the south of England overrepresented in the highest.
The Office for National Statistics has released its latest data covering the period 2021 to 2023 in England, Wales and Scotland.
Scotland had the lowest life expectancy of the three nations at 76.8 years for males and 80.8 years for females, compared to 79.1 years and 83.0 years in England and 78 and 82 in Wales.
Life expectancy in Scotland, like in all constituent countries of Great Britain and all regions in England, fell since the last period covering 2017 to 2019.
The average life expectancy for males in that period was 77.2, while for females it was 81.1.
The 10 highest local area male life expectancies at birth were all located in the south of England; while the 10 lowest were six in Scotland, three the north of England and one in Wales.
Blackpool had the lowest life expectancy for men at 73.1 years, replacing Glasgow City, which continues to have the lowest life expectancy for women at 78.3 years and the lowest life expectancy in Scotland for men (73.6 years).
Outside of Glasgow City, the lowest life expectancies for males were found in West Dunbartonshire (74.3), Dundee City (74.6), and North Lanarkshire and North Ayrshire & Arran (both 74.9).
All had higher life expectancies than 20 years ago when a male born in Glasgow could expect, on average, to live to just 69 but all were lower than in the last set of fata.
As noted in the data, the Covid-19 pandemic led to increased mortality during 2020 and 2021 and some impact remains in the latest life expectancy reporting period.
The largest fall in female life expectancy came in Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles), with a decrease of 2.1 years, with the highest life expectancy in East Renfrewshire at 84.5.
Outside of Glasgow City, the areas with the lowest female life expectancy were East Ayrshire (78.6), North Lanarkshire (78.7), and both Dundee City and West Dunbartonshire on 79.2.
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The 10 highest local area female life expectancies were also all located in the south of England, while seven of the lowest 10 were in Scotland.
The gap in life expectancy across local areas, within constituent countries, increased for most groups, between 2001 to 2003 and 2021 and 2023. The only group for whom the gap decreased was males in Scotland (0.1 years less in 2021 to 2023 compared with 2001 to 2003).
Greg Ceely, Head of Population Health Monitoring at the ONS, said: “Today’s data show a decline in life expectancy in most areas during 2021 to 2023, compared with the period of 2017 to 2019. This suggests we are yet to see a recovery from the decrease in life expectancy we saw during the pandemic.
“Our results continue to show a clear geographical divide. For example, in England, male life expectancy in the South East is three years higher than in the North East, and female life expectancy 2.7 years higher in London compared to the North East.
“Taking Great Britain as a whole, for the first time since this time series began, Blackpool, not Glasgow City, has the lowest male life expectancy. Glasgow City continues to have the lowest female life expectancy.”
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