We’re not living longer any more

Life expectancy progress in UK stops for first time

‘Weird, apparently life expectancy has failed to improve for the first time since 1980. I wonder why.’ To order a print of this or any other Mac cartoon, visit Mailpictures.newsprints.co.uk or call 020 7566 0360.

THE lifespans of men and women in the UK have stopped getting longer – halting a century of improvement, official evidence showed yesterday.

There was virtually no extension of life expectancy between 2015 and 2017, said the Office for National Statistics.

It means that a newborn boy can anticipate 79.2 years of life and a girl 82.9 – the same as over the previous three-year period from 2014 to 2016. It is the first time since modern measurements were launched nearly 40 years ago that life expectancy has stalled.

There had been improvements which, although interrupted by war, date back to the introduction of immunisation and medical advances in the 1920s. The failure to increase lifespan provoked sharp arguments over the reasons why.

Left-leaning figures pointed to austerity and state spending cuts since 2010, while the ONS and medical experts looked at the impact of epidemics and the return of diseases which were once thought conquered.

Others have pointed to lifestyle changes – particularly those that have affected women. Millions have chosen education, careers and a high-paid, highstress life as opposed to the domestic and family- centred concerns of their mothers. The ONS figures showed the chance that a newborn will live to 90 has remained the same since 2013 – around one in five baby boys and one in three girls will reach the landmark.

There was no improvement for older people either. At age 65, men can expect 18.6 more years of life and women 20.9 – the same levels as during the 20142016 period.

In Scotland and Wales, life expectancy actually fell by 0.1 years for both newborn boys and girls. In Northern Ireland, life expectancy for newborn boys dropped by 0.1 years.

Social policy expert Dr Kingsley Purdam, of the University of Manchester, yesterday branded the figures ‘shocking’, adding: ‘Poverty, austerity and cuts to public services are impacting on how long people are living.’

However, previous ONS studies have failed to find evidence that Government economic policies have affected life expectancy. Other experts have pointed to flu epidemics, the slower progress of medical advances and the re-emergence of diseases such as rickets and scarlet fever.

The ONS report said life expectancy in Britain remains lower than in many comparable countries. In Switzerland it is 81.5 years for newborn boys while the figure is 80.6 in Italy.