What does the geography of long life look like?

Men and women, north and south: a tale of different lives in the UK

A good innings?...it depends

• The average life expectancy of the total population in the UK stands at : 78.85 years

• But when we split up the findings we see that…

• Male LE: 76.37 years

• Female LE: 81.46 years (2008 est.) (CIA World Factbook)

Places that live on and places that live less

Regional maps of Life Expectancy: Source http://www.pm.gov.uk/files/pdf/health%20inequality%20map.pdf

The Queen vs. Wayne Rooney’s neighbourhood: How long might they live?

• In the top-ranked local authority Kensington and Chelsea men live to 80.8 years, and women a further five years.

• Is it as simple as a north south divide?

• Certainly the south and the east have on average higher life expectancies, but note the local anomalies in inner east London for example.

• Of the lowest 10 local authorities, seven were in Scotland. The others were Manchester, Blackpool and Liverpool.

• Glasgow City has the worst life expectancy, 72.9 years leading to an undesired label of life expectancy the 'Scottish effect'

What might be the impacts of LE being unevenly distributed around the UK?Is it only biology that explains the differences in male and female LE?

The ‘Scottish Effect’

• Glasgow suffers from double whammy of negative factors that contribute to its position in life expectancy in the UK.

• High proportion of manual working class labour and unemployment

• Lifestyle couples as the other significant contribution to the ‘Scottish Effect’, as the main killer diseases are lung cancer and heart disease, caused by smoking and lack of exercise.

The river Clyde in Glasgow © Copyright Gordon McKinlay and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.

• Your gender, where you live and the lifestyle you adopt all play a part in life expectancy in the UK.

• Geographies of health, economy and social activity help us to understand the variations at a national and local scale.

• So when learning about life expectancy we need to consider place, history and economic conditions as well.

• This information helps governments ensure their policy is targeted; as well as that of NGOs and charities.

The geography of long life…