Healthy life expectancy: data introduction

Estimates of life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) for Scotland and the population sub-groups indicated in Table 1 are to be found within the data pages accessible either via hyperlinks in the table or via the menu on the left (or in the case of local authority, through hyperlinks to a report published in 2004).

The December 2011 HLE update includes previously unpublished 2010 LE and HLE estimates for Scotland, and 2009-10 estimates for deprivation quintiles, along with updates using information from other published sources on deprivation decile trends and within-UK comparisons. Note that for geographies such as NHS board and CHP area, there have been no HLE updates since the estimates for the 5-year period 1999-2003, as these are reliant on Census data.

Table 1: Data for Scotland presented on life expectancy and healthy life expectancy

Data dimensions / geographies	Data Presented ? (Y=yes; N=no)
Data dimensions / geographies	Life expectancy	Healthy life expectancy
By gender	Y	Y
By age group	Y	Y
By NHS board area	Y	Y
By local authority area	Y (in 2004 report *)	Y (in 2004 report *)
By community health partnership (CHP) area	Y	Y
By intermediate geography	Y (but not shown for very small areas)	N
By deprivation quintile	Y	Y
By deprivation decile	Y	Y
By urban rural classification	Y	Y
Time trend	Y	Y
National target	No target	Y (trends show progress towards 2017 target)
Comparison with UK/GB	Y	Y
International comparison	Y	Y (limited data, for health expectancy)

* The 2004 Healthy life expectancy in Scotland report (324KB), executive summary (92KB) and paper by Wood et al (2006) provided the first published estimates of male and female HLE for the Scottish population. They included estimates by NHS board, local authority area and deprivation quintile, with health expectancy based on either self-assessed health (SAH) or limiting long-term illness.

Important data notes

95% confidence intervals are presented alongside every LE or HLE estimate presented here, to show the precision of each figure in terms of the likely range of random year-to-year statistical variability in the data used to produce the estimates. However, it should be emphasised that it is not possible to quantify effects such as any inconsistencies in how people interpret and respond to questions about their health, or any unusual circumstances which affect the figures for a particular area or year. For further discussion of such issues, and interpretation of the 95% confidence interval for LE in a particular small area, please see the data page for intermediate geographies.

Please note that in the charts on the data pages, the y axis does not start at zero, and different scales may be used in different charts as appropriate.

ScotPHO publishes Scotland's definitive HLE estimates (alongside the corresponding LE estimates for the same time-periods and geographies, to allow an estimation of the time expected to be spent in 'not healthy' health). The Office for National Statistics publishes the definitive Scotland-level LE estimates (based on interim life tables) on behalf of National Records of Scotland (NRS, formerly the General Register Office for Scotland). NRS publishes definitive LE estimates for areas within Scotland.