Life expectancy increase in UK stalls for first time since 1982, ONS study finds

The increase in UK life expectancy at birth has come to a standstill for the first time since records began in 1982, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Figures released on Tuesday show that life expectancy for girls and boys born in England, and females born in Northern Ireland, has remained unchanged since 2014-15.

The life expectancy of a girl born in England between 2015-17 is 82.9 years old, and for boys it stands at 79.2 years. A female born in Northern Ireland is expected to live to 82.3 years old.

Elsewhere in the UK, life expectancy has dropped. Males and females born in Scotland and Wales, and boys born in Northern Ireland, have seen a decrease of 0.1 years compared to figures for 2014-2016.

A baby born in Scotland in 2015-2016 has the lowest life expectancy of all UK nations, with boys predicted to live to 77 years and girls to 81.1 years.

Baby boys born in Northern Ireland are expected to live to 78.4 years, while males and females born in Wales are predicted to live to 78.3 and 82.3 years, respectively.

Meanwhile, UK life expectancy at 65 years did not grow for males or females in 2015-2017, remaining at 18.6 and 20.9 years, respectively.

This was the case for all four UK countries, except for males born in Northern Ireland, who saw their life expectancy decline by 0.1 years.

Overall, the UK has seen one of the largest slowdowns in life expectancy at birth and at the age of 65 of other comparable countries, including Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of charity Independent Age, said: "These figures starkly highlight the need for health and care services to adapt to our ageing population, and the government must ensure that these services can support people to live long, healthy, happy lives."

Sophie Saunders, a statistician at the ONS Centre for Ageing and Demography, said the new data showed "the lowest improvements in life expectancy since the start of the series in 1980 to 1982".

In good news for men, figures showed more are reaching their 100th birthday, as the gap between male and female centenarians has narrowed over the last 15 years.

In 2002, there were 8.22 female centenarians for every man of the same age in the UK. Last year, however, the figure was 4.84 females aged 100 to every male centenarian.

The number of male and female centenarians decreased slightly between 2016-2017, however. There was a total of 14,430 people 100 years old or over last year, down from 14,510.

More men are also living beyond their 90th birthday.

The ONS said that due to faster improvements in male death rates a decade ago, men are now living longer.