A UK seaside town has taken on the grim title of the place men are most likely to live the shortest lives. Glasgow used to be the place where males could expect the briefest life span in the country.
However, data suggests a baby boy born in Scotland’s largest city between 2021 and 2023 is now likely to live for 73.6 years on average.
Whereas, a boy born in Blackpool will live for only 73.1 years.
According to the new research, by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), those living in the area are also expected to spend fewer years of their lives in good health, and endure high rates of poverty, worklessness and sickness, The Telegraph reports.
It comes after Blackpool Council’s 2024 public health report stated: “From around the 1960s to 2010, life expectancy (LE) has shown steady improvement, but there have been two turning points in LE trends in England in the past decade.
“From 2011, LE increases started slowing, prompting much debate about the causes. Then in 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was a more significant shift, causing a sharp fall in LE.”
The document added that a review by Public Health England identified “some of the factors contributing to slowing improvements”.
These were:
- Increasing numbers of older people vulnerable to flu and other winter risks
- Slowing improvements in mortality from heart disease and stroke
- Widening inequalities
- Rising death rates from accidental poisoning among younger adults (mainly due to drug misuse)
The report added: “The slowdown was greater among the most deprived groups, with inequalities widening and slowing mortality improvements among people aged 50 years and over also playing a significant role. The review noted that the slowdown occurred across much of the population, at a time when health and social care services faced increasing demand and unprecedented financial pressures.
“While a slowdown in improvements in life expectancy between 2010 and 2019 was seen in many European countries, it was greatest in the UK. It’s likely there were several reasons for these trends, some specific to the UK (such as widening inequalities) and some common to the UK and other European countries (such as the swings in flu-related mortality and slowdown in CVD mortality improvements).
“Life expectancy is closely related to the overall level of deprivation in an area, with people in more affluent areas living significantly longer than people in deprived areas. In 2018–20, males in the least deprived 10% of areas in England could expect to live almost a decade longer than males in the 10% most deprived areas; for females the difference was eight years.”
Despite Glasgow relinquishing its unwanted status, six of the areas with the lowest life expectancy for men in the UK are still in Scotland. These are: Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire.
The BBC reports that men living in Outer Hebrides can expect to live 2.1 fewer years when compared to the previous year.
The top 10 areas with the highest male life expectancies, meanwhile, are all in the south of England.
These include places like Hart in Hampshire and Uttlesford in Essex.
Glasgow is still the area in Britain that has the lowest female life expectancy.
