Life expectancy in Scotland has dropped for a second year running with experts blaming the coronavirus pandemic and poverty.
Figures published today found that babies born over the period 2019 to 2021 will have a life expectancy of 76.6 years for men and 80.8 years for women.
Scotland has the lowest life expectancy in the UK and a growing gap between those from the richest and poorest parts of the country.
Nicola Sturgeon was today urged to step up Scottish Government efforts to tackle poverty as the least well-off Scots can expect to die a full decade before the most affluent.
A report from the National Record of Scotland (NRS) said the impact of Covid was the single biggest factor in the drop in life expectancy. But it added that drug deaths and deprivation were also factors.
Campaigners warned it was a "glaring injustice" that poorer Scots were dying years before the most wealthy.
Neil Cowan, of the Poverty Alliance, said: "Scotland is a place where people believe in justice and compassion - but the widening gap in life expectancy between rich and poor is a cause for shame and anger.
"During their lifetimes, people living on low incomes are boxed in by poverty.
"They are prevented from accessing the same freedoms and rights as others, and their life chances and opportunities are restricted and restrained. That leads to health inequalities, early death, and higher mortality rates. That is a glaring injustice.
"It doesn't have to be like this. We can redesign our economy to make sure people get secure work that pays at least the real Living Wage, and we can strengthen social security to make sure everyone has an adequate income that lets them live in dignity.
"Our governments have a moral responsibility to protect people from harm. They urgently need to meet those responsibilities, right now."
The council area with the lowest average life expectancy is Glasgow, at 72.6 years for men and 77.7 years for women. Orkney has the highest at 83.8 years for women and 80.4 years for men.
Life expectancy in Scotland had increased between the early 1980s and the early 2010s, but then started to plateau over the period 2012 to 2014.
Speaking at First Minister's Questions, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "Today we discover that life expectancy has dropped for a second year running - all under Nicola Sturgeon's watch.
"After 15 years in power, and 15 years of running our NHS, how long will the people of Scotland have to wait for you and your health secretary to do your job?"
Sturgeon responded: "A two-year pandemic, for Scotland and every country, has presented real and significant challenges."
She added: "We will continue to take action, albeit with one hand tied behind our back, to tackle poverty in Scotland and have a positive impact on life expectancy.
"Unfortunately Labour wants us to continue to have one hand tied behind our back on these issues."
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said: "These statistics show the true state our country is in. This fall in life expectancy is the result of two public health crises the SNP have catastrophically mishandled.
"The devastation of Covid was all the more potent after the government made glaring errors, such as the putting Covid positive patients into care homes, and failing to make sure that quarantine and contact tracing worked.
"Similarly, ministers cut budgets to drug services by 22%, sending organisations to the wall, severing support and leading to soaring deaths across Scotland.
“Scotland has suffered as a result of years of distracted governments with broken priorities.
"Deprivation still cuts too many lives short. As we look ahead to a long and difficult winter with a crisis in emergency care already biting, ministers must get a grip on the things that really matter."
Maree Todd, public health minister, said the coronavirus pandemic had "disproportionately affected our most deprived communities".
She added: "We are doing all we can to ensure everyone in Scotland can live a long and healthy life. The pandemic has taught us the importance of intervening to protect the health of the most vulnerable in our society.
"We are using all the powers currently at our disposal to address the cost of living crisis and to tackle poverty and inequality in Scotland.
"We have taken action to address these issues such as investing almost £3 billion in a range of measures for households, supporting energy bills, as well as social security payments that are either not available anywhere else in the UK or are more generous, such as the Scottish Child Payment."
Sandesh Gulhane, Scottish Conservatives health spokesman, said: "These deeply alarming numbers have the fingerprints of Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf all over them.
"While Covid is a factor in the reduction of life expectancy all across the UK, the fact remains that it had already started falling in Scotland before the pandemic, and life expectancy is significantly lower here – where the SNP have been responsible for healthcare for 15 years – than in the rest of the UK.
"It’s tragic that, if you live in Scotland – and especially Glasgow – your life will be shorter and you’ll enjoy fewer years of good health than people in other parts of the UK."
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