Survey shows rise in Buddies' life expectancy

Oct 6 2008 by Kenneth Speirs, Paisley Daily Express

PEOPLE in Paisley are now enjoying longer lives.

Boys born in Renfrewshire can now expect to live to an average age of almost 74 – more than two years older than the life expectancy from a decade ago.

And girls born in the Paisley area can look forward to even longer lives as the average life expectancy for them is now almost 79, compared to just over 77 back in the 1990s.

A new report released by the Registrar General for Scotland reveals that the improved quality of life enjoyed by many people nowadays, together with advances in medical care, have been highlighted as factors behind the increased life expectancy.

Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, told the Paisley Daily Express: “These latest figures show that the steady increase in life expectancy is continuing.

“Over the past 10 years, the gap between men and women has narrowed and so has the gap between the council areas with the best and poorest life expectancy for men, although it has widened for women.”

Mr Macniven’s report shows that, based on the period from 2005 to 2007, life expectancy at birth in Scotland has improved in the last 10 years from 72.3 to 74.8 years for men and from 77.9 to 79.7 years for women.

This means that, despite the increase in life expectancy in Renfrewshire over the past decade, the average man and woman living in Paisley can still expect to die younger than the average Scot.

And the bad news for Scots is that, on average, they live shorter lives than people in any other country in Western Europe.

Mr Macniven said: “Life expectancy in Scotland is four to five years shorter than in the countries with the highest life expectancy.”

According to Mr Macniven’s report, life expectancy varies considerably across Scotland.

The council area with the highest male life expectancy is East Dunbartonshire, where they can expect to live to the age of 78 – more than seven years longer than men in the Glasgow City area, which has the lowest figure.

Shetland is the council area with the highest female life expectancy. Women there live to an average age of 82.6, which is 5.5 years longer than those in Glasgow City.

Compared with 10 years ago, life expectancy at birth in Scotland has increased by 2.5 years for men and 1.8 years for women.

The gap between the life expectancy of men and women continues to close, dropping from 5.6 years to 4.9 years over the past decade.

Although some parts of Scotland have only experienced small increases in life expectancy over the past 10 years, no council area has experienced a decrease.