Health and life expectancies: key points

Life expectancy (LE) is an estimate of how many years a person might be expected to live, whereas healthy life expectancy (HLE) is an estimate of how many years they might live in a 'healthy' state.

• Life expectancy at birth in Scotland had shown a general improvement since 1980, however, in recent years improvements in life expectancy have stalled and since 2018-2020 has decreased for both males and females.
• Latest life expectancy estimates for Scotland, covering the period 2020-2022, are provisional and will be revised following the publication of the Scotland 2022 Census based populations estimates.  Publication of 2020-2022 life expectancy split by deprivation or rural/urban classification and healthy life expectancy are also not expected until after required Census data has been published.
• Male life expectancy at birth for the period 2019-2021 is 76.5 years, on average 60.4 of these years spent in 'good health'.
• Female life expectancy at birth for the period 2019-2021 is 80.8 years, on average 61.1 of these years spent in 'good health'.
• Healthy life expectancy a birth in Scotland has also reduced in recent years, the 2019-2021 estimates are lower than those for 2009-2011 in both males and females.
• Over the last 10 years female LE at birth has consistently been around 4 years higher than for males.  HLE at birth has also been higher in females compared to males, although this gap has narrowed and 2019-2021 the difference is less than 1 year. 
• Females in Scotland live more years in 'poor health' compared to males.   
• Those living in deprived areas have lower LE and HLE when compared to those living in the least deprived areas.
• LE and HLE are lower in Scotland than in the UK as a whole, for both males and females. For further details see the UK comparisons page.
• Scotland has one of the lowest life expectancies in Western Europe. International comparisons of HLE are hampered by the lack of consistent health measures. However, on the basis of a related indicator, healthy life years (HLY), it would appear that, in comparison with many European countries, Scotland fares badly for males but compares better for females. For further details see the International comparisons page.

ScotPHO welcomes feedback from website users on the information included in this update. Please e-mail us at scotpho@nhs.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  with any comments on how the data are used and presented and how this could be improved.