The time people spend in good health is decreasing, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland.
Healthy life expectancy – the number of years a person can expect to spend in good health – has been falling since the mid-2010s for females and males. Life expectancy hasn’t fallen as fast over the same period, and has seen a small increase in recent years.
The latest figures for 2022 to 2024 show healthy life expectancy is now 59.4 years for females and 59.1 years for males. Females have lost almost four years of healthy life expectancy and males three years since 2014-2016. The figures are based on answers to a national survey where respondents rate their health as very good or good rather than fair, bad or very bad.
People living in the 10% most deprived communities spend much less time in good health and have a lower life expectancy. Females in these communities spend around 60% of life in good health, and males spend around two thirds of their lives in good health and have a life expectancy of 69.8. In contrast, females and males in the 10% least deprived communities can expect to spend over 80% of their lives in good health.
Head of vital events statistics for NRS, Phillipa Haxton, said: “While life expectancy increased to around pre-pandemic levels for both females and males, healthy life expectancy has not increased. This means people are likely to be spending a greater proportion of their life in poor health than in previous years. The gap between the most and least deprived communities is even more stark for this measure than it is for life expectancy.”
The areas of Scotland where healthy life expectancy was lower than average for both sexes were North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. It’s also lower than average for males in North Ayrshire. The areas where healthy life expectancy was higher than average were Orkney Islands, East Renfrewshire, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeenshire, East Dunbartonshire and City of Edinburgh.
