Table 2 Regional life expectancy in England, 2004-06 At birth males females
At age 65 males females
North East
75.8
80.1
16.2
18.8
North West
75.7
80.3
16.3
19.1
Yorkshire and The Humber 76.6
81.0
16.8
19.6
East Midlands
77.3
81.3
17.1
19.7
West Midlands
76.6
81.1
16.8
19.7
East of England
78.3
82.3
17.6
20.3
London
77.4
82.0
17.5
20.3
South East
78.5
82.4
17.9
20.5
South West
78.5
82.7
17.9
20.8
England
77.2
81.5
17.1
19.9
Source: Office for National Statistics (2007d), Health Statistics Quarterly
UK life expectancy also varies by region, as illustrated by Figure 1 and Table 2. Is there a North/South divide? Almost: as Tables 1 (pg 11) and 2 (pg 13) and Figure 1 (pg 12) show, the lowest life expectancies are found in Scotland and the North East and North West of England. The South East, South West and East of England have the highest life expectancies. The local authority with the highest male life expectancy at age 65 in 2004-06 was Kensington and Chelsea (22.0 years); 8.2 years more than Glasgow City. Kensington and Chelsea also had the highest life expectancy for 65 year old females (24.8 years); 7.5 years more than Glasgow City (ONS, 2007c). Table 3 shows that UK life expectancy at age 65 is modest compared to that of the other ‘Group of Eight’ nations. Willets et al (2004) attribute this mediocre UK performance to high death rates from circulatory disorders, particularly heart disease, and poor cancer survival rates.
Table 3 Population life expectancy at age 65, by country At age 65 males females Japan
18.1
23.1
Canada
17.3
20.6
France
17.1
21.3
Italy
17.1
20.9
UK
16.9
19.7
USA
16.7
19.4
Germany
16.3
19.5
Russia
11.1
15.2
Source: Paternoster (2006) and, for the UK, Office for National Statistics (2007b), Life expectancy continues to rise
Apocalyptic demography? Putting longevity risk in perspective | 13