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UK cities

Male life expectancy, Glasgow compared to selected other UK cities
Male LE UK cities trnd 2018 20

Male life expectancy in Glasgow, while improving overall over the last 25 years, remains lower than in other cities in the UK. In 2018-20, a boy born in Glasgow was estimated to be likely to live for 73.1 years, over five years longer than in the early 1990s, but it was still three years less than in Manchester and 5.5 years less than in Sheffield. 

The graph also illustrates that improvements in life expectancy levelled off in recent years. In 2018-2020 increased mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, has led to a sharp reduction in life expectancy across UK cities. 

Female life expectancy, Glasgow compared to selected other UK cities
Female LE UK cities trnd 2018 20Female life expectancy in Glasgow, while it has improved over the last 25 years, remains lower than in other cities in the UK. In 2018-20, a girl born in Glasgow was estimated to be likely to live for 78.3 years, three years longer than in the early 1990s, but still nearly 1.5 years less than in Manchester and 4.3 years less than in Bristol.

The graph also illustrates that improvements in life expectancy have levelled off in recent years. In the most recent period shown, 2018-20, increased mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, has led to a further reduction in life expectancy in UK cities.

In the vast majority of countries and cities, women live longer than men. However, the gap in life expectancy at birth between men and women has narrowed in all of the selected cities (shown above) over the last 20 years. In Glasgow the life expectancy gap between women and men has narrowed by nearly two years over a 25 year period from 6.8 years to 5.1 years.

Notes

The data underlying these graphs come from National Records of Scotland and ONS publications.

In August 2021 the GCPH published Health in a changing city: Glasgow 2021, a report that examined demographic, socio-economic, environmental and health trends in Glasgow over the last two decades and included trends in life expectancy by neighbourhood and by deprivation were included.

Further reading under ‘Life expectancy’