7.1.1 The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces national life tables for the UK and constituent countries, which provide estimates of period life expectancy. Responsibility for the production of national life expectancy figures transferred to ONS from the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) on 31 January 2006.
7.1.2 Every ten years a set of graduated (smoothed) life tables for Scotland is published. They are available for the years 1930-1932 to 2000-2002 (excluding 1940-1942) and are available from the Office for National Statistics and National Records of Scotland (NRS) formerly General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) websites.
7.1.3 Also available on the ONS website are ungraduated interim life tables. These are produced annually for Scotland, based on data for a period of three consecutive calendar years.
7.1.4 Because of the differences between complete (single year of age) and abridged (grouped years) life tables, the abridged figures presented in this report for Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales may differ slightly from the national interim figures published by ONS, which are complete and are the definitive life expectancies for these countries. A detailed description of the standard methods and notation associated with the calculation of life expectancy by ONS (and previous to this - GAD) can be found on the GAD website.
7.1.5 Period life expectancies are worked out using the age-specific mortality rates for a given period (either a single year, or aggregated years) which make no allowance for any later actual or projected changes in future mortality. Cohort life expectancies are worked out using age-specific mortality rates which allow for known or projected changes in mortality in later years. Period and cohort life expectancies based on projected mortality rates from the 2008-based national population projections can be accessed from the ONS website.
7.1.6 ONS published Scotland-level ungraduated interim life tables for 2008-2010 on 29 September 2011. These figures are also available in the Life Expectancy pages of the NRS/GROS website, within the ‘Life Expectancy at Scotland Level’ section.
7.1.7 Life expectancy figures used for international comparisons are taken from Table tps00025 of the Eurostat website. Further information on mortality and life expectancy can also be found on this website.
7.2 Life expectancy for areas in Scotland
7.2.1 Previous NRS/GROS publications dedicated to life expectancy in administrative areas (Council and NHS Board) and special areas (Community Health Partnership, Urban/Rural and Deprivation) within Scotland can be found in the Life Expectancy in Scottish Areas (archives) of the NRS/GROS website.
7.2.2 A further breakdown of Council area life expectancy, which splits each Council by deprivation (and may be of particular use in monitoring inequalities within a Council area) can also be found in this section, along with tables for life expectancy within the 73 Scottish Parliamentary Constituency areas.
7.2.3 Life expectancy tables with 95% confidence intervals for Scottish Council and NHS Board areas from 1991-1993 to 2007-2009 are available on the ONS website. These webpages also contains life expectancy tables for local and health authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
7.2.4 Figures for 2008-2010 will also be published by ONS on 19 October 2011. Earlier life expectancy tables for Scottish Council and NHS Board areas, back to 1981-1983 (in the form of abridged life tables) are available in the Life Expectancy in Scottish Areas archive section of the NRS/GROS website.
Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) is defined as the number of years people can expect to live in good health. The difference between life expectancy and HLE indicates the length of time people can expect to spend in poor health. Information on HLE in Scotland was first published in 2004 by the Information Services Division (ISD) of the NHS in Scotland. Up to date information on the topic can be found on the Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) website.
7.4 Other data available from the National Records of Scotland
Estimates of the resident population of Scotland are prepared by NRS each year. These are available by sex and single year of age for Council and NHS Board areas, together with historical data. Information is also available on a wide range of related topics such as small area population estimates, population projections, migration estimates and data from the 2001 and earlier Censuses. For further information please go to the NRS /GROS website.
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