Variation in life expectancy between areas in Scotland

Figures published today by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) show life expectancy can vary by seven years depending on the council area a baby is born in – and by 10.5 years depending on how deprived an area the baby was born in.

The report looks at how life expectancy varies according to deprivation, council area, health board area and rural or urban areas.

Commenting on the report published today, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland  and Registrar General for Scotland Tim Ellis said:

“The statistics published today show that every council area of Scotland has seen an increase in life expectancy over the past decade, but there is still a lot of variation between areas. The report shows that deprivation has a strong effect on life expectancy with people who live in more deprived areas expected to live shorter lives than those in less deprived areas.”

Based on statistics covering 2014-2016, the report breaks down further the estimates published at Scotland level on 27 September 2017 which showed that life expectancy is now 77.1 years for men and 81.2 years for women in Scotland.

An infographic summarising the key points of the NRS report and an interactive data visualisation comparing life expectancy at birth between Scottish council areas is available on the NRS website.

The latest statistics covering 2014-2016 show:

Scotland level

• The average life expectancy at birth across Scotland was 81.2 years for females and 77.1 years for males.
• Scotland has one of the lowest life expectancies in Western Europe and the lowest of all UK constituent countries.

Council areas

• The council areas with the highest life expectancy for females were East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire where a baby girl could expect to live for 83.5 years. By contrast, in West Dunbartonshire which had the lowest life expectancy for females, a baby girl would be expected to live for 78.8 years.
• For males, life expectancy at birth was highest in Orkney Islands where a baby boy could expect to live until he was 80.3 years old. Glasgow City had the lowest life expectancy for males of 73.4 years.
• All Council areas have seen an increase in life expectancy since 2004-2006. For Scotland as a whole, life expectancy has increased for male by 2.5 years and for females by 1.6 years.

Health boards

• Life expectancy at birth was highest for females in Highland, Orkney and Western Isles NHS boards (82.7 years) and lowest in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Lanarkshire boards (80.1 years).
• For males, life expectancy was highest in Orkney NHS board (80.3 years) and lowest in Greater Glasgow and Clyde board (75.3 years).

Life expectancy and deprivation

• People living in more deprived areas of Scotland have a shorter life expectancy than those living in less deprived areas.
• For females there was a gap of 7.8 years between those living in the first SIMD quintile (the 20 per cent most deprived areas) and those in the fifth SIMD quintile (the 20 per cent least deprived areas). For males the gap was 10.5 years.

Life expectancy in urban and rural areas

• Life expectancy at birth was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas for both males and females.
• For females, life expectancy was highest in remote rural areas (82.8 years) and lowest in large urban areas (80.6 years).
• For males, life expectancy was highest in accessible rural areas (79.5 years) and lowest in large urban areas (75.9 years).

The full publication Life Expectancy for Administrative Areas within Scotland 2014-2016  can be found on this website.