Glasgow no longer area with lowest male life expectancy

Men living in Glasgow no longer have the UK's lowest life expectancy

Glasgow is no longer the area in Britain with the lowest male life expectancy.

The city had previously recorded the lowest life expectancy for males in every set of estimates since the data was first recorded in 2001, but this year Blackpool has a lower average.

Data suggests a baby boy born in Glasgow between 2021 and 2023 is, on average, likely to live for 73.6 years while a boy born in Blackpool will live for 73.1 years.

However, Scotland's largest city still has the lowest life expectancy for women.

The figures published by Office for National Statistics (ONS) show six of the areas with the lowest life expectancy for men are still in Scotland.

They are Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire.

The top 10 areas with the highest male life expectancies are all in the south of England, and include places such as Hart in Hampshire and Uttlesford in Essex.

For men living in Outer Hebrides there was a 2.1 year drop in average life expectancy since last year.

The council area with the highest life expectancy for both men and women in Scotland is East Renfrewshire - 81.0 years for males and 84.5 years for females.

Glasgow remains the area in Britain with the lowest female life expectancy.

A baby girl born in the city between 2021-23 is likely to live for 78.3 years, followed by the those born in East Ayrshire (78.6) and North Lanarkshire (78.7).

Of the 10 areas with the lowest female life expectancy across the UK, seven are in Scotland.

As with males, the top 10 highest life expectancy areas for females are all in southern England.

Baby girls born in Kensington and Chelsea in London are likely to live for the longest, with a predicted life expectancy of 86.5 years.

The ONS figures also show that life expectancy at birth in 2021-23 remained lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic in a majority of areas for both males (288 of 348 local authorities, or 83%) and females (242 authorities, or 70%).

Greg Ceely, ONS head of population health monitoring, said: "Today's data show a decline in life expectancy in most areas during 2021 to 2023, compared with the period of 2017 to 2019.

"This suggests we are yet to see a recovery from the decrease in life expectancy we saw during the pandemic.

"Our results continue to show a clear geographical divide.

"Taking Great Britain as a whole, for the first time since this time series began, Blackpool, not Glasgow, has the lowest male life expectancy. Glasgow continues to have the lowest female life expectancy."