Life Expectancy for Administrative Areas within Scotland, 2004-2006

The key points in this report for 2004-2006 are:

At Birth:

Life expectancy at birth for Scotland was 74.6 years for men and 79.6 years for women. This varied considerably amongst areas in Scotland;
The council area with the highest male life expectancy was East Dunbartonshire (78.0 years), 7.5 years more than Glasgow City, the lowest at 70.5 years;
East Renfrewshire was the council area with the highest life expectancy for women (81.9 years), 4.9 years more than Glasgow City (lowest at 77.0 years);
The NHS board area with the lowest figure for both men and women was Greater Glasgow & Clyde (72.5 and 78.2 years respectively);
The highest figures were for Shetland NHS board area: men (76.6 years) and women (81.5 years).

At age 65:

Life expectancy at age 65 for Scotland was 15.9 years for men and 18.6 years for women;
The council area with the highest life expectancy at age 65 for men and woman was Shetland (18.0 years and 20.5 years respectively), 4.2 years for men and 3.2 years for women more than Glasgow City;
The NHS board with the lowest figure for men was Greater Glasgow & Clyde (14.7 years). The lowest figure for women was in Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Lanarkshire (both 17.9 years). Shetland had the highest for both men and women (18.0 years and 20.5 years respectively).

Compared with 10 years ago in 1994-1996:

Life expectancy at birth for Scotland has improved from 72.1 years to 74.6 years for men and 77.8 years to 79.6 years for women;
The gap between men and women is closing, dropping from 5.7 years to 5.0 years over the period;
Although some areas had only very small increases in life expectancy over the 10 year period, there were no areas (council or NHS board area) that experienced a decrease;
The gap between highest and lowest council areas for men remained the same at 7.5 years. Whereas, for women, the gap increased from 4.4 years in 1994-1996 to 4.9 years in 2004-2006;
The biggest rise in life expectancy for men was in Shetland with 4.9 years and East Dunbartonshire (2.7 years) for women;
The smallest rise was in Clackmannanshire (0.2 years) for males and East Ayrshire (0.7 years) for females.