Life expectancy in Glasgow

Analysis from Glasgow: health in a changing city (2016) shows that despite improvements in life expectancy for men and women in the last 15 years, life expectancy in Glasgow remains significantly lower than in Scotland with no sign of a narrowing of this gap relative to Scotland.

This report describes life expectancy trends in Glasgow since the early 1990s and tracks changes in neighbourhood-, deprivation- and gender-related health inequalities. The report also describes the changes in population, housing, environmental and socioeconomic circumstances within the city. 

The findings also point to the persistence of the health gap between our most deprived and affluent communities and show that the gap in female life expectancy between our most and least deprived areas has widened to nearly 11 years. In addition, there has been a relatively poor trajectory for female life expectancy compared to males over recent years, particularly in the most deprived half of Glasgow.

The life expectancy indicators used in this report are also presented in the health section of the Understanding Glasgow website. In addition, there are two sets of neighbourhood profiles for Glasgow: a set that cover the whole population which were first published in 2014 and a set of children and young people's profiles which were published in December 2016. Both sets of profiles include indicators of health and wellbeing at three geographic levels: Glasgow as a whole; three sub-sectors of the city (North East, North West and South Glasgow); and 56 neighbourhoods across the city. 

Comparisons of aspects of Glasgow’s 56 neighbourhoods is a statistical report that complements the aformentioned publications. In it data from the census and other sources are used to compare demographic, socioeconomic and health changes across Glasgow’s neighbourhoods. The indicators shown include population measures, life expectancy, car ownership, overcrowding and vicinity to vacant and derelict land. The main comparison periods used were 2001 and 2011.   

Life expectancy in Calton

Previously, an out-of-date life expectancy figure of 54 years has often been quoted in the media for the Calton area of Glasgow, despite more up-to-date information being made available. More recent estimates are that in 2008-2012, male life expectancy at birth was 67.8 years in Calton & Bridgeton, while female life expectancy was estimated at 76.6 years. Read more in Bruce Whyte's blog post - Life expectancy in Calton: no longer 54.