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Life Expectancy

Volume 716: debated on Tuesday 19 January 2010

Question

Asked by

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average life expectancy in England for (a) men, and (b) women in each year from 1979 to 2009; and whether they have access to comparable figures for (1) Northern Ireland, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales. [HL1310]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Dennis Roberts, Director, Surveys and Administrative Sources, Office for National Statistics, to Lord Selkirk, dated January 2010.

The director for the Office for National Statistics has been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary Question concerning the average life expectancy in the UK constituent countries since 1979. 1 am replying in his absence. (HL1310)

The attached table provides the period expectation of life at birth for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for each year (where available) from 1979 to 2009 for males and females. The period expectation of life at birth is the average number of years a person would live, if he or she experienced the particular country's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life.

Period Expectation of Life at birth, UK constituent countries, 1979-2009

Year

Males

Females

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

1979*

70.4

69.7

..

..

76.4

75.9

..

..

1980*

70.8

70.3

69.0

69.3

76.8

76.3

75.2

75.0

1981

71.1

70.4

69.1

69.2

77.0

76.4

75.3

75.5

1982

71.3

70.7

69.3

69.8

77.3

76.6

75.5

76.0

1983

71.6

71.1

69.6

70.1

77.5

77.0

75.6

76.3

1984

71.8

71.2

69.9

70.3

77.6

77.1

75.8

76.7

1985

72.0

71.4

70.0

70.6

77.8

77.4

76.0

76.9

1986

72.2

71.6

70.2

70.9

77.9

77.5

76.2

77.1

1987

72.4

72.0

70.4

71.1

78.1

77.9

76.5

77.3

1988

72.7

72.3

70.6

71.5

78.3

78.0

76.5

77.5

1989

72.9

72.6

70.8

71.7

78.4

78.3

76.6

77.6

1990

73.1

72.8

71.1

72.1

78.6

78.5

76.7

78.0

1991

73.4

73.1

71.4

72.6

78.9

78.8

77.1

78.4

1992

73.6

73.2

71.5

72.7

79.0

78.8

77.1

78.6

1993

73.9

73.4

71.7

73.0

79.2

78.9

77.3

78.7

1994

74.1

73.4

71.9

73.1

79.3

78.9

77.4

78.7

1995

74.4

73.7

72.1

73.5

79.5

79.1

77.7

78.9

1996

74.5

73.8

72.2

73.8

79.6

79.1

77.9

79.2

1997

74.8

74.2

72.4

74.2

79.7

79.3

78.0

79.5

1998

75.0

74.3

72.6

74.3

79.9

79.3

78.2

79.5

1999

75.3

74.6

72.8

74.5

80.1

79.6

78.4

79.6

2000

75.6

74.8

73.1

74.8

80.3

79.7

78.6

79.8

2001

75.9

75.3

73.3

75.2

80.6

80.0

78.8

80.1

2002

76.1

75.5

73.5

75.6

80.7

80.1

78.9

80.4

2003

76.5

75.8

73.8

75.8

80.9

80.3

79.1

80.6

2004

76.8

76.1

74.2

76.0

81.1

80.6

79.3

80.8

2005

77.2

76.6

74.6

76.1

81.5

80.9

79.6

81.0

2006

77.5

76.7

74.8

76.2

81.7

81.1

79.7

81.2

2007

77.7

76.9

75.0

76.3

81.9

81.2

79.9

81.2

2008*

77.9

77.1

75.2

76.6

82.0

81.3

80.0

81.2

2009*

78.4

77.5

75.8

77.0

82.4

81.7

80.4

81.7

* These life expectancy figures are based on the national interim life tables (NILT) for all years apart from those marked with one asterisk. As figures are not available from the NILTs for these years the life expectancy estimates are based on a single year’s data rather than three years.

** National interim life tables are not available and so life expectancy figures based on assumed rates of mortality from the 2008-based National Population Projections have been used.

.. Data not available