Healthy life expectancy: urban rural classification

The association between rurality and life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth was examined by means of the Scottish Government’s urban rural classification (2001 version). The 6-fold classification was used, comprising large urban areas, other urban areas, accessible small towns, remote small towns, accessible rural and remote rural. Approximately two-thirds of the Scottish population live in the two urban area categories. For further details of the classification, please see the technical paper   (155KB), section 6.

The data relate to the 5-year period 1999-2003, using death registrations and population estimates for each of the 5 years, self-assessed health (SAH) from the Scotland Census for 2001 (the middle year), and the urban rural classification for 2001.

Males

Chart 1 and the accompanying Table 1  (63KB) show that:

• Male LE at birth tended to decrease as area of residence became more urban. LE for remote rural (75.3 years) was 3.3 years longer than large urban areas (71.9 years). 
• Male HLE at birth decreased steadily as area of residence became more urban. HLE for remote rural (69.9 years) was 5.9 years longer than large urban areas (64.0 years). 
• There was also a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); this ranged from 5.4 years in remote rural up to 7.9 years in large urban areas.

Females

Chart 2 and the accompanying Table 2  (68KB) show that:

• Female LE at birth decreased steadily as area of residence became more urban. LE for remote rural (80.6 years) was 2.5 years longer than large urban areas (78.1 years). 
• Female HLE at birth decreased steadily as area of residence became more urban. HLE for remote rural (74.4 years) was 5.8 years longer than large urban areas (68.5 years). 
• There was also a clear gradient in the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); this ranged from 6.2 years in remote rural up to 9.5 years in large urban areas.

Males and females summary

It may be concluded from Charts 1 and 2 that, for both males and females:

• Residents of the most remote rural areas are expected to live longest, live longest in a healthy state and spend fewest years in ‘not good’ health. This may be party due to the fact that rural areas tend to have lower levels of deprivation than urban areas, and deprivation has been shown to be strongly associated with a lower LE and HLE (see deprivation deciles page).
• Conversely, residents of the most urban areas are expected to live the shortest time, live the shortest time in a healthy state and spend the most years in ‘not good’ health. 
• HLE at birth showed a greater spread or inequality between the remote rural and large urban areas (nearly 6 years) than did LE at birth (2-3 years).

Further information

Table 3 provides the life tables for males and females  (501KB) for the 6 urban rural classification categories 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 (155KB) provides further information on life tables and methodology, data sources, geography, etc.