Life expectancy falls in Scotland for first time in 35 years
pharmafile | September 26, 2018 | News story | Research and Development | Scotland, UK, health, life expectancy, uk politics
Life expectancy has fallen for the first time in 35 years in Scotland, as data released by the National Records of Scotland has revealed that life expectancy fell by 0.1 years for both men and women in the constituent country of the United Kingdom.
The decline has come after three years of stagnation during which period there was little change in life expectancy. Overall life expectancy remained unchanged across the UK as a whole; however a similar decline in the length of time a person is expected to live was noted in Wales.
Figures show that while boys born in 2014-2016 are expected to live 77.07 years, boys born between 2015-2017 are expected to live 0.05 years shorter lives, as they are expected to die at the age of 77.02 years old.
Similarly life expectancy dropped from 81.15 years to 81.09 years for women in Scotland.
The revelation comes after it was revealed that the UK has experienced the biggest slowdown in increasing life expectancy among major developed countries. Equally recent statistics show that alcohol, drugs and suicide are driving a decline in life expectancy in the United States.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Liberal Democrat health spokesman commented: “Ingrained unhealthy lifestyle choices are having a devastating impact on our physical wellbeing and causing an obesity epidemic. Meanwhile, mental ill health is at crisis levels. These figures show the urgent need to make a transformative investment in mental health and for public health interventions on the scale of the smoking ban introduced 12 years ago, this time focusing on Scotland’s poor diet and lack of activity.”
Louis Goss
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