New figures show that the amount of time somebody born in Renfrewshire can be expected to live for has decreased.
National Records of Scotland statistics on life expectancy in Scotland were published earlier this week and they show the disparity between length of life for those living in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire.
The figures show that women living in East Renfrewshire can expect to live until the age of 83.8, almost four years longer (3.8 years) than their counterparts in Renfrewshire, where the life expectancy at birth is 80, down from 80.3 the year before.
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And for men the figures are similar, with those in East Renfrewshire having a life expectancy at birth of 79.4, and those in Renfrewshire 75.5, down from 75.7 on last year.
Renfrewshire has the seventh lowest life expectancy for women in Scotland and eighth lowest for men. Whereas East Renfrewshire has the joint highest life expectancy for women, alongside Orkney, and the third highest for men, just behind East Dunbartonshire and Orkney.
The figures support oft-repeated findings that residents in the most deprived communities spend fewer years in good health and die younger than those in the least deprived.
The Scotland average is 80.8 for women and 76.5 for men. Which represents a decrease on the previous year. It is the third year in a row in which life expectancy has decreased.
Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all UK countries.
Life expectancy was highest in Orkney Islands and lowest in Glasgow city for both males and females in 2019-2021, and most of Scotland’s council areas have seen life expectancy fall over the last few years. Life expectancy was higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
Julie Ramsay, Head of Vital Events Statistics at NRS, said: "Life expectancy has decreased by more than 11 weeks for males and almost 8 weeks for females since 2018-2020.
"Our analysis shows that COVID-19 deaths accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy for both males and females."
Scottish Labour spokesperson for Public Health, West Scotland MSP Paul O’Kane said: “These findings should be yet another huge wake up call for the Scottish Government to remind them that so much more has to be done to improve public health.”
“Regarding the difference between East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire, it’s always shocking to see health inequalities at play between two communities that border one another which is why SNP cuts to targeted funding to support the poorest communities is completely the wrong decision at the wrong time.”
“Covid-19 will have sadly played a part in the change in life expectancy stats…fundamentally the pandemic and Covid-19 should be thought of as a turning point because it showed how badly underfunded our health service had been, that it had been and is at the mercy of SNP cuts and mismanagement.”
“A&E is in precarious state and each public health stat that comes out suggests the SNP are lost in their attempts to improve Scotland’s health service and public health.”
“I’ll continue to raise to this important public health data with the Scottish Government and call on them to do more because what they have done so far is simply not enough.”
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