• Average UK life expectancy improvement continued to slow between 2017 and 2019, new official data reveals (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2017to2019)
• Life expectancy at age 65 was 18.8 years for men and 21.1 years for women – a rise of 6.3 weeks compared to the 2016-2018 figures
• Despite recording the fastest average life expectancy improvements in 5 years, England, Wales and Scotland had amongst the lowest improvement rates versus other OECD countries between 2011 and 2018
• There is a 10-year gap in life expectancy at birth between Westminster (84.9 years) and Blackpool (74.4 years (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/lifeexpectancyforlocalareasoftheuk/between2001to2003and2017to2019)
• New life expectancy data does not take into account the impact of COVID-19
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, comments:
“The fact average life expectancy in the UK was improving before COVID-19 is good news, although by historical standards the rises recorded were relatively modest.
“In fact, since 2011 people living in England, Scotland and Wales have experienced among the lowest life expectancy improvement rates in the developed world. Given the severe surge in deaths across the UK during the pandemic, next year’s figures could well show stalling or even falling average life expectancy.
“It is worth noting that while overall life expectancy might have been improving, how long you can expect to live depends heavily on a variety of factors, including where you live.
“For example, the gap between the region with the highest average life expectancy at birth, Westminster, and the region with the lowest life expectancy, Blackpool, was over 10 years.
“More generally, there remains is a clear disparity between the life expectancies of people living in London and the South East and less affluent regions such as the Midlands and the North East.
“Given these are also the regions where people are most likely to report being worse off financially due to COVID-19, the pressure is now firmly on Boris Johnson to deliver on his pre-election promise to ‘level-up’ across the UK.”
