Life expectancy in Scotland increases but divide between most and least deprived remains

Key Points

An increase of around 14 weeks for males and seven for females
National figures ‘still down’ since before pandemic
East Renfrewshire has highest life expectancy with 81.0 for men and 84.5 for women
Glasgow City is the most deprived and has the lowest
Life expectancy was highest in rural areas and lowest in large urban areas

Life expectancy in Scotland has increased for both males and females, according to new figures from the National Records of Scotland.

The life expectancy for 2021-2023 was found to be 80.9 years for females and 76.9 years for males.

Compared to the estimate for 2020-2022, this is an increase of about 14 weeks for males and almost seven weeks for females.

The national figures are still down on where they were prior to the pandemic, and data from local authorities figures are still lower than they were at the same time period.

Scotland continues to have a lower life expectancy than England and Wales and the lowest life expectancy in Western Europe.

Life expectancy varies across local authority areas and is said to be strongly linked to deprivation.

It is the highest in East Renfrewshire, where male expectancy was 81.0 and 84.5 for females.

In Glasgow City, male expectancy was 78.3 for males and 73.6 for females.

Female life expectancy was 10.5 years lower in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived.

In the most deprived areas, male life expectancy was around 13.2 years lower than in the least deprived.

Life expectancy was highest in remote rural areas and lowest in large urban areas.

The stall in life expectancy growth seen in Scotland has also been seen in areas within Scotland.

In some areas however, the change has been greater than others.

In certain areas, such as Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, and Na h-Eileanan Siar, the annual rate of growth has fallen dramatically between 2017-2019 and 2021-2023.

22 council areas have had a decrease in female life expectancy since 2017-2019 and 27 have had a decrease in male life expectancy.

NRS Statistician Phillipa Haxton said: “Life expectancy in Scotland peaked in 2012-2014 and plateaued until 2017-2019. Thereafter there was a fall.

“Today’s figures are still below the peak of ten to 12 years ago.”