Scots' lifespan among lowest in Europe

LIFE expectancy in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK and Europe has worsened over the past five years and is now just ahead of Eastern European nations such as Slovenia and Poland, latest figures have revealed.

Scottish men and women face one of the shortest life spans in the whole of Europe, despite a steady improvement in life expectancy predictions over the past ten years.

Statistics published by Scotland's Registrar General have shown Scots are living longer than before and that men are continuing to close the traditional gap between their life expectancy and that of women. Life expectancy at birth for Scotland has improved over the past decade from 72.7 years to 75.4 years for men and from 78.2 years to 80.1 years for women.

But men and women in Scotland can expect to live slightly shorter lives - one year and 2.3 years respectively - than the European average. Scots men can expect to live four years less than Swedish men and Scottish women can expect to live 4.9 years less than French women.

This year's figures represent a marked improvement on last year's statistics, when the life expectancy predictions were 75.0 years for men and 79.9 years for women.

There are also considerable variations in life expectancy across Scotland.

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The council area with the highest life expectancy for men (78.3 years) and women (83.1 years) is East Dunbartonshire. Men there can expect to live 7.2 years longer than those in Glasgow - Scotland's area with the lowest life expectancy - while women in East Dunbartonshire can expect to live 5.6 years longer than women in Glasgow.

Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said: "Scottish men and women are living longer, and men are closing the traditional gap between their life expectancy and women's. While life expectancy in Scotland continues to be lower than the UK and European average, there are no council or NHS board areas where life expectancy has decreased over the last decade."

Shona Robison, Scotland's minister for public health, warned it would take "generations" to bring about a sea change in the predicted lifespans for Scottish men and woman.

She said: "The increase in life expectancy is encouraging and we hope to see this trend continue. In the current financial climate, it is more important than ever to ensure that increasing healthy life expectancy for all Scots remains a priority.

"However, we are all aware that we still live in a Scotland where the poorest in society suffer from unacceptable inequalities in health.This problem cannot be solved overnight and it will take generations to see a change."

Ms Robison continued: "We believe that the only way to deal with health inequalities effectively is to address the underlying causes - issues such as negative early-years experiences, poverty, unemployment, and poor physical and social environments.

The report states: "Scotland's position relative to the UK and EU27 average figures is not improving and has worsened over the past five years.

"Based on 2007 figures, life expectancy at birth within the UK is 2.5 years higher for men than in Scotland and 1.8 years higher for women."