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Healthy life expectancy: deprivation quintiles

Males

Chart 1 and the accompanying Table 1 Excel file icon (69KB) show male life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth for the 5 deprivation quintiles in Scotland. The quintiles are based on the Scottish Government’s Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006 (not weighted for population).

LE is presented for five 2-year periods; 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2007-08; HLE for all except 2003-04 when self-assessed health (SAH) was not recorded in the Scottish Household Survey. The 2-year HLE figures are presented in order to assess time trends, but it should be noted that these data are less statistically robust than the 5-year 1999-2003 figures (also shown as a check) which are based on 5 years of data on deaths and populations, and self-assessed health from the 2001 Scotland Census.

  • As expected, male LE at birth decreased steadily from the least to the most deprived quintile. In 2007-08, LE for the least deprived quintile (80.2 years) was 11.4 years longer than for the most deprived quintile (68.8 years).
  • There was a similar, but more marked, pattern for HLE; in 2007-08, HLE for the least deprived quintile (74.6 years) was 15.8 years longer than for the most deprived quintile (58.8 years).
  • Like Scotland, the quintiles tended to show a steady increase in LE at birth between 1999-2000 and 2007-08. The increase over this period ranged from 1.4 years in quintile 1 (most deprived) to 2.6 years in quintile 4, while the Scotland figure was 2.1 years.
  • HLE at birth for 2-year periods also tended to increase steadily over time.
  • HLE estimates are likely to be more accurate when based on SAH from the 2001 Census than on SAH from surveys (with much smaller numbers of respondents). The 1999-2003 data for the former are close to, but in some cases slightly higher than, the 2001-02 data for the latter. This emphasises the less robust nature of the 2-year survey-based data.
  • There tends to be a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); in 2007-08 this ranged from 5.6 years in the least deprived quintile to 10.1 years in the most deprived quintile.

Females

Chart 2 and the accompanying Table 2 Excel file icon (58KB) show the comparable female LE and HLE at birth data for the 5 deprivation quintiles in Scotland. (Note that the chart y axis scale is different from Chart 1.)

  • As expected, female LE at birth decreased steadily from the least to the most deprived quintile. In 2007-08, LE for the least deprived quintile (83.5 years) was 7.3 years longer than for the most deprived quintile (76.3 years).
  • There was a similar, but more marked, pattern for HLE; in 2007-08, HLE for the least deprived quintile (77.3 years) was 15.2 years longer than for the most deprived quintile (62.1 years).
  • Like Scotland, all quintiles tended to show a steady increase in LE at birth between 1999-2000 and 2007-08. The increase ranged from 0.8 years in quintile 2 to 2.1 years in quintile 5 (least deprived), while the Scotland figure was 1.5 years.
  • Apart from quintile 1, HLE at birth for 2-year periods also increased steadily over time.
  • The 1999-2003 HLE figures based on SAH from the 2001 Census are close to, but tend to be slightly higher than, the 2001-02 data based on survey SAH, again highlighting the less robust nature of the 2-year survey-based data.
  • There is a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); in 2007-08 this ranged from 6.2 years in the least deprived quintile to 14.2 years in the most deprived quintile.

Males and females summary

It may be concluded from Charts 1 and 2 that:

  • For each sex, the more deprived the quintile 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.
  • The inequality or spread between deprivation quintiles 1 and 5 was wider for males than females for LE at birth, slightly wider for HLE at birth, but narrower for the period expected to be spent in 'not good' health.
  • For each sex, HLE at birth differed more between quintiles 1 and 5 than did LE at birth.
  • Between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, for each sex, LE at birth appears to have diverged slightly between quintiles 1 and 5, indicating a possible increase in health inequality. The estimates for HLE at birth are less robust and there is no clear indication of a divergence (or convergence) of trends over time.

Further information

Table 3 provides the life tables for males and females Excel file icon (466KB) for the 5 deprivation quintiles in Scotland, based on the 5-year period 1999-2003 and SAH from the 2001 Census, as this is more robust than the 2-year period data for quintiles and is in line with the life tables presented on the other web pages for other geographies/groupings within Scotland. The life tables 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 paperPDF Button (155KB) provides further information on life tables and methodology, data sources, geography, etc.