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Photograph of an hourglass
Figures on life expectancy at birth for males and females for local authorities in England and Wales (and Strategic Health Authorities in England) are published by the (External) Office for National Statistics (ONS) . The latest figures are for the period 2005-2007 and these have been added to existing trend data from 1991-1993 to 2004-2006. Results are rolling averages, produced by aggregating deaths and population estimates for each three year period, so as to provide large enough numbers to ensure that the figures are sufficiently robust. Two local authorities, City of London and Isles of Scilly, are excluded from the results due to small numbers of deaths and populations in these areas. Lancashire district authority figures can be found in our Data Download Centre .
Life expectancy at birth for an area in each time period is an estimate of the average number of years a new born baby would survive if he or she experienced the particular area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. It is also not a guide to the remaining expectancy of life at any given age.
Life expectancy at birth in the UK has reached its highest level on record for both males and females. A newborn baby boy could expect to live 77.2 years and a newborn baby girl 81.5 years if mortality rates remain the same as they were in 2005-07. Life expectancy in Lancashire, as in the UK as a whole, is on the increase, with the gap between male and female life expectancy narrowing. The pace of this convergence is greater in the areas where life expectancy is better, such as Fylde, where the gap has reduced by 1.6 years over the last decade.
Recent changes:
Long-term trends:
No doubt advances in medical treatments play a big part in increasing life expectancy, but, as Lancashire County Council's Strategy for Health and Wellbeing points out "approximately 80% of the factors which determine the health of an individual lie outside the NHS". Other factors such as violent crime, poverty, and ethnicity can have an affect on our longevity.
Life expectancy is a widely used indicator of the state of the nation's health. Large improvements in expectancy of life at birth have been seen over the past century for both males and females as shown in Table 1. Large gains in life expectancy have been due to numerous factors affecting mortality rates. These include rising living standards, improved lifestyle, better education and control over infectious diseases, as well as advances in access to care and the efficacy of medicine. Other factors, such as better nutrition, improved public health measures such as sanitation and housing have also played a role, though it is difficult to assess the relative contribution of the numerous non-medical and medical factors that might affect variations in life expectancy over time and across different areas. Higher national income per capita is generally associated with higher life expectancy at birth, although the relationship is less pronounced at higher levels of incomes.
Results for the latest period 2005-07 show a familiar geographical pattern, with inequalities in life expectancy continuing to persist across England and Wales. In broad terms, life expectancy remains lowest in the older industrial areas of the north and urban areas in general and highest in rural areas and parts of the south. Inequalities exist between Government Office Regions; for males there was a difference of 2.9 years between the regions with the highest and lowest life expectancy (North West (76.0) and South East (78.9)). The North East and North West had the lowest female life expectancy (80.4), and the South West region had the highest female life expectancy (82.9).
Figures for the fourteen-year period from 1991-93 to 2005-07 reveal a continuing steady improvement in life expectancy at birth for both males and females in England and Wales, as seen in Table 1. For females the increase was 2.6 years whilst for males there was a more substantial increase of 3.9 years. This led to some narrowing of the gap between male and female life expectancy but the average male figure for 2005-07 still remains noticeably below the average for females by some 4.2 years (compared with a 5.5 year gap in 1991-93). Moreover, whilst the general picture nationwide is one in which life expectancy has increased, the greatest gains were experienced in those areas starting with higher life expectancy.
Photograph of nurses tending babies
Average growth in the UK population above state pensionable age between 1981 and 2007 was less than one per cent per year; this rose to almost 2% between 2006 and 2007. This increase is partly due to the number of women born during 1947 in the immediate post World War II baby boom who reached state pensionable age in 2007.
Despite its use as a general indicator of health, life expectancy takes no account of the quality of life. Recent research has suggested that whilst the population is now living longer than ever before, the extra years have not necessarily been lived in good health. Whilst over the past two decades life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (i.e. expected years of life in good or fairly good health) have both increased, life expectancy appears to have increased at a faster pace than healthy life expectancy. The difference between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy can be regarded as an estimate of the number of years a person can expect to live in poor health. In 1981 the expected time lived in poor health for males was 6.5 years. By 2001 this had risen to 8.7 years. Females can expect to live longer in poor health than males. In 1981 the expected time lived in poor health for females was 10.1 years, rising to 11.6 years in 2001.
Effectively, the increase in lifespan appears to have combined with an increase in degenerative disease with age to generate an expansion of morbidity. However, it is not a foregone conclusion that the 'extra' years of life expectancy should necessarily lead to additional years with ill health or disability. Many believe that more suitable community services to encourage independent living and more effective practice of preventative lifestyles and medicine has the potential to lengthen disability-free life expectancy, particularly in the case of the prevention and treatment of non-fatal but disabling diseases.
See also Lancashire's Strategy for an Ageing Population .
Photograph of a church in Whalley in the Ribble Valley
A mixed pattern is also evident at district level in Lancashire. Just three local districts have male life expectancy rates above the England and Wales average (Fylde, Ribble Valley and West Lancashire); life expectancy rates in Ribble Valley are also above the England and Wales average for female life expectancy. Life expectancy is highest in Ribble Valley for both males and females and lowest in Blackpool.
Even when ranked against every local authority in the UK (Scotland is known to have the poorest life expectancy in the UK), Blackburn and Blackpool are ranked in the lowest 5% for both males and females and half of all 14 Lancashire districts are ranked in the lowest quintile UK wide. However the picture is one of improvement as all districts recorded some increase in life expectancy over the period 1991-93 to 2005-07, for both males and females. In the case of males, five local districts saw life expectancy increase by 3.9 years or more - increases above the average for England and Wales. Most notable were increases of 5.1 years in Ribble Valley and 4.3 years in Chorley and Fylde respectively. The least improvement by far was in Blackpool where male life expectancy over the period rose by only 1.6 years.
For females, the increase in life expectancy between 1991-93 and 2005-07 was generally less rapid although 6 out of the 14 Lancashire districts exceeded the England and Wales average increase of 2.6 years. Ribble Valley experienced the greatest female life expectancy gain of 3.8 years followed by 3.2 years in Preston and Chorley. The poorest out-turn was again in Blackpool which recorded an increase in female life expectancy of just 0.7 years. The net result of these changes over the period has been to generally extend life expectancy rates in all areas of the sub-region but also, in some respects, to widen the "gap" between the top and bottom ranked local authorities. Thus, in 1991-93 the life expectancy gap for males between the "healthiest" an "unhealthiest" Lancashire districts was 3.4 years; by 2005-07 this had widened to 5.6 years. In the case of females the difference had widened from 3.2 years to 3.8 years.
A broad picture of Lancashire districts' general standing on life expectancy figures is given in Table 2. This ranks the 2005-07 expectancy figures against the 374 local authority areas throughout England and Wales. The highest and lowest ranked national areas have been given for illustrative purposes.
In England and Wales, the authority with the highest life expectancy at birth for males in 2005-07 was Kensington & Chelsea (83.7 years). The same area also had the highest female life expectancy (87.8 years). At the other extreme, Blackpool was the local authority with the lowest life expectancy at birth for males at 73.2 years (or 10.1 years gap with Kensington & Chelsea). Hartlepool was ranked worst in terms of female life expectancy (9.7 years gap with Kensington and Chelsea).
Within Lancashire, just three local districts – Fylde, Ribble Valley and West Lancashire – enjoyed male life expectancy at birth above the national average though only Fylde and Ribble Valley ranked within the top 50% of authorities in England and Wales. The poorest performing, Blackpool, was ranked as the worst performing in England and Wales. A further six local districts recorded rankings of over 300 (i.e. within the bottom 20%).
In some respects an even poorer pattern relative to England and Wales is evident for female life expectancy figures. In 2005-07 only one authority, Ribble Valley, was ranked within the top 50% of authorities in England and Wales and had rates above the national average, although Fylde was approximately level with the national average. Eight Lancashire districts ranked in the bottom 20% nationally and five of these are ranked within the bottom 10%. Further, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and Blackpool were ranked in the bottom 5% in England and Wales. Blackpool and Burnley occupied the joint position as the poorest performing districts in Lancashire for female life expectancy and joint 6th from bottom nationally. They were followed very closely by Blackburn with Darwen which ranked 7th from bottom nationally.
Analysis across a wide range of other key social and economic indicators such as those relating to wages and incomes, housing conditions and measures of deprivation reveal the significant problems that continue to face many areas within Lancashire. It is therefore not wholly surprising that such difficulties are also reflected in relatively low life expectancy figures for many districts. This point is further emphasised by the fact that such districts as Fylde and Ribble Valley which are by various indicators considered to be amongst the most affluent areas in Lancashire, also recorded the highest male and female life expectancy figures in the county.
Further information on life expectancy at birth in Lancashire can be found in a related article Life Expectancy at Birth by Ward .
The ONS have not released any new data on life expectancy at age 65 as yet. The most recent dataset is from the period 2004-2006. Within this time period males aged 65 in England and Wales could expect to live for another 17.1 years and women a further 19.9 years if mortality rates remained the same as they were in 2004-06. The data revealed that life expectancy at aged 65 is continuing to rise for both men and women. Although women continue to live longer than men, the gap has been closing over recent years. In 1984-86 there was a difference of 4.0 years between male and female life expectancy at age 65 in England and Wales (13.4 years and 17.4 years respectively). In 2004-06 this had narrowed to 2.8 years. Rankings of life expectancy at age 65 for males and females across Lancashire districts are shown in Table 3.
Additional information on life expectancy in Lancashire can be found elsewhere on Lancashire Profile on Healthy and Disability-Free Years by Districts and Healthy and Disability-Free Years by Wards .
As well as the geographical inequalities in life expectancy across England and Wales as outlined above, variations in life expectancy continue to persist across social classes. According to results from an (External) ONS Longitudinal Study , in the period 2002-05:
Viewed over the longer time horizon from 1972-76 to 2002-05:
Results for the more recent period between 1997-2001 and 2002-05 tentatively suggest the possibility of some underlying change in this pattern of inequality:
Source ONS - Estimates of Life Expectancy by Social Class 1972-2005
The link between poverty and health is well established and many studies have also shown a clear relationship between deprivation and death rates with more deprived areas having worst mortality than the less deprived. A recent study conducted on behalf of ONS has examined the relationship between deprivation and leading causes of death in England and Wales using mortality data from 1999-2003. Its key findings included the following:
Source ONS - Mortality by Deprivation and Cause of Death in England and Wales, 1993-2003, Health Statistics Quarterly No.32, Winter 2006
There is some anecdotal evidence for differences in life expectancy by ethnicity in Adult and Community Services, and particularly in healthy life expectancy. In the 2001 Census, the highest self-reported proportions of both poor health and long term illness by ethnic group nationally were from Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women (see the ONS article (External) 'Manual workers die earlier than others' . In Lancashire, based upon experimental research, white people could live 2.2 years longer than people from BME backgrounds; please see the research monitor Life Expectancy and Ethnicity .
Related topics:
Life Expectancy at Birth by Ward
(research monitor)
Life Expectancy at Birth and at Age 65
(data download)
Life Expectancy: Healthy and Disability-Free Years by Districts 2001
(research monitor)
Life Expectancy and Ethnicity
(research Monitor)
This page was compiled by Gemma Barrow .
All enquiries from the media should be sent to Corporate.Communications@lancashire.gov.uk .
Any other questions about the content of this page may be sent to EconInfo@lancashire.gov.uk .
For all enquiries about the county council's services , contact the Customer Service Centre on 0845 0530000 (01772 530000) or at Enquiries@css.lancscc.gov.uk .
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