Spotlight
National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2021 to 2023
What's in the bulletin?
- Period life expectancy is the average number of additional years a person would expect to live if he or she experienced the mortality rates by age of the given area and time period for the rest of their life.
- Period life expectancy at birth in the UK in 2021 to 2023 was 78.8 years for males and 82.8 years for females, while period life expectancy at age 65 years was 18.5 years for males and 21.0 years for females.
- The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to increased mortality in the UK, particularly in 2020 and 2021, and as a result our three-year period life expectancy estimates have fallen.
Past and projected period and cohort life tables: 2022-based, UK, 1981 to 2072
What's in the bulletin?
- Boys born in the UK in 2023 can expect to live on average to age 86.7 years and girls to age 90.0 years based on projections of cohort life expectancy, which take into account future improvements in mortality.
- Cohort life expectancy at birth in the UK is projected to reach 89.3 years for boys and 92.2 years for girls born in 2047, an increase of 2.6 years and 2.2 years, respectively from 2023 levels.
- People aged 65 years in the UK in 2023 can expect to live on average a further 19.8 years for males and 22.5 years for females based on cohort life expectancy, projected to rise to 21.8 years for males and 24.4 years for females by 2047.
Life expectancy in care homes, England and Wales
The average number of years care home residents aged 65 years and over are expected to live beyond their current age in England and Wales. Classified as Experimental Statistics.
Datasets related to Life expectancies
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Life expectancy at birth and selected older ages
Annual data on life expectancy at birth and selected older ages for England, broken down by sex.
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Expectation of life, low life expectancy variant, UK
Period and cohort expectation of life in the UK using the low life expectancy variant by single year of age 0 to 100.
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Expectation of life, principal projection, UK
Period and cohort expectation of life in the UK using the principal projection by single year of age 0 to 100.
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Life tables, principal projection, UK
Life tables for the UK, period and cohort, from the principal projection, single year of age 0 to 100. Historical data before 1961 are not national statistics.
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Mortality rates (qx), principal projection, UK
Period and cohort mortality rates (qx) for the UK using the principal projection by single year of age 0 to 100.
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National life tables: UK
Period life expectancy by age and sex for the UK. Each national life table is based on population estimates, births and deaths for a period of three consecutive years. Tables are published annually.
Publications related to Life expectancies
Statistical bulletins
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National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2021 to 2023
Trends in period life expectancy, a measure of the average number of years people will live beyond their current age, analysed by age and sex for the UK and its constituent countries.
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Past and projected period and cohort life tables: 2022-based, UK, 1981 to 2072
Life expectancy (eₓ), probability of dying (qₓ) and number of persons surviving (lₓ) from the period and cohort life tables, using past and projected mortality data from the 2022-based national population projections (NPPs), for the UK and constituent countries.
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Life Expectancy at Birth and at Age 65 by Local Areas in England and Wales: 2012 to 2014
Trends for England and Wales (national, regional and local areas) in the average number of years people will live beyond their current age measured by "period life expectancy".
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Trend in life expectancy by National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification, England and Wales: 1982 to 1986 and 2012 to 2016
Estimates of life expectancy by personal socio- economic position using the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification based on occupation.
Articles
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Living longer: is age 70 the new age 65?
Measuring ageing in terms of remaining life expectancy, instead of years lived, may provide a better indicator of the health of our ageing population.
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Changing trends in mortality: an international comparison
Analysis of period life expectancies and mortality in selected countries globally from 2000 to 2016.
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Changing trends in mortality
Analysis of age-specific and age-standardised mortality rates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from 1981 to 2016.
Methodology related to Life expectancies
Find, compare and visualise statistics about places within the United Kingdom.