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Deprivation deciles
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Healthy life expectancy: deprivation deciles

The deprivation patterns in life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth identified for deprivation quintiles are examined below in more detail, by looking at deprivation deciles. Like the quintiles, these are based on the Scottish Government’s Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006 (not weighted for population). LE and HLE at birth are presented for 5-year periods, with HLE for 1999-2003 based on 5 years of data on deaths and populations, and a single year of data for self-assessed health from the Scotland Census for 2001 (the middle year). Note that although data for 2-year periods, with HLE estimates based on survey SAH data, were presented for quintiles, they are not presented here for deciles as they are less robust at this smaller geography.

Males

Chart 1 and the accompanying Table 1 Excel file icon (46KB) show that: 

  • Male LE at birth decreased steadily from the least to the most deprived decile. In 1999-2003, LE for the least deprived decile (79.0 years) was 13.3 years longer than for the most deprived decile (65.7 years). 
  • Like Scotland, most deciles showed a steady increase in LE at birth between 1994-98 and 2001-05. However, the increases tended to be greater for the less deprived deciles and smaller for the most deprived deciles. Indeed, decile 1 (the most deprived) showed virtually no increase over time, whilst LE in decile 10 (the least deprived) increased by 2.6 years. 
  • HLE at birth in 1999-2003 decreased steadily from the least deprived decile (75.0 years) to the most deprived (54.5 years), giving a range of 20.5 years. 
  • There was also a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); this ranged from 4.0 years in the least deprived decile to 11.3 years in the most deprived decile.

Females

Chart 2 and the accompanying Table 2 Excel file icon (50KB) show that:

  • Female LE at birth decreased steadily from the least to the most deprived decile. In 1999-2003, LE for the least deprived decile (82.2 years) was 8 years longer than for the most deprived decile (74.2 years). 
  • Like Scotland, most deciles showed a steady increase in LE at birth between 1994-98 and 2001-05. However, the increases tended to be greater for the less deprived deciles and smaller for the most deprived deciles. 
  • HLE at birth in 1999-2003 decreased steadily from the least deprived decile (77.3 years) to the most deprived (60.8 years), giving a range of 16.5 years. 
  • There was also a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); this ranged from 5.0 years in the least deprived decile to 13.5 years in the most deprived decile.

Males and females summary

It may be concluded from Charts 1 and 2 that:

  • For both males and females, the more deprived the decile the shorter the LE at birth, the shorter the HLE at birth and the longer the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health. In addition, for males (and less consistently for females) the more deprived the decile the smaller the increase in LE at birth between 1994-98 and 2001-05. 
  • The inequality or spread between deprivation deciles 1 and 10 was wider for males than females for both LE and HLE at birth, but not for the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health. 
  • HLE at birth demonstrated a greater inequality between deciles 1 and 10 than did LE at birth.

Further information

Table 3 provides the life tables for males and females Excel file icon (482KB) for the 10 deprivation deciles in Scotland, based on the 5-year period 1999-2003 used for LE and HLE at birth above. These allow the user to look at LE and HLE at ages other than birth (with 95% confidence limits). Also shown for each age group are: the population estimate, number of death registrations, proportion of population surviving to a specific age, number reporting SAH, proportion with ‘not good’ health, and period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health.

The technical paper PDF Button (155KB) provides further information on life tables and methodology, data sources, geography, etc.

Other deprivation analyses

LE and HLE data were published in the Scottish Government’s 2008 Long-term monitoring of health inequalities report and the 2009 update. Using analyses for deciles based on the income-employment index (a deprivation measure developed from SIMD 2006) for three time periods, it concluded that between 1999-2000 and 2005-06, inequalities in HLE at birth appeared stable in both absolute and relative terms.

HLE data for 1999-2000 to 2007-08 for the 15% most deprived data zones in Scotland (based on the SIMD 2006) are published on the Scottish Government’s website Scotland Performs, to monitor the national indicator to increase HLE at birth in the most deprived areas.