RESIDENTS in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire are facing a postcode lottery when it comes to life expectancy, latest figures show.
According to the National Records of Scotland, men in East Renfrewshire can expect to live until they are 80 – the second highest age for any local authority area across Scotland.
However, in neighbouring Renfrewshire, the average life expectancy for men is four years shorter, at around 76.
This leaves Renfrewshire ranked as the seventh worst area in Scotland in this category.
And it is a similar picture when it comes to average life expectancy for women in these areas.
The figure for women in East Renfrewshire is 83.5 – joint best in Scotland, along with East Dunbartonshire.
But, in Renfrewshire, women are only expected to live to just over 80.
Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, believes the gulf can be explained by the number of people in Renfrewshire who are living in poverty.
Dr Linda de Caestecker
She said: “Life expectancy is strongly associated with poverty and, given there are large sections of the population in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area that are experiencing disadvantage and poverty, it is not unexpected that expectancy rates are lower in Renfrewshire than East Renfrewshire.
“We have been working hard with our local authority partners to further improve the health of local people by reducing the effects of poverty through a range of services and initiatives.
“In particular, there is a strong focus on the early years as part of our drive to address health inequalities across Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including Renfrewshire.
“It is our key priority to continue working to reduce the health inequalities gap.”
Life expectancy in Scotland as a whole has stalled in recent years, despite continuing to rise over the past three decades.
Glasgow has Scotland’s worst life expectancy rate for both men and women, at just 73.4 and 78.9 respectively.
The best life expectancy for men is found in the Orkney Islands, where it is 80.3.
Figures from the National Records also show a population increase in Renfrewshire of 0.5 per cent between mid-2016 and mid-2017, with a rise of one per cent recorded in East Renfrewshire.
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