Mean, median and modal ages at death in the UK and its constituent countries, 2001 to 2003 and 2016 to 2018.

In 2023 life expectancy for both males and females at birth rose when compared to 2022. Male life expectancy increased from 78.58 years to 78.82 years, and from 82.57 years to 82.77 years for females. Throughout most of this period, there is a steady rise in life expectancy for both males and females, with improvements in life expectancy beginning to slow in the 2010s and then starting to decline in the 2020s. Life expectancy since the 18th Century Although there has been a recent dip in life expectancy in the UK, long-term improvements to life expectancy stretch back several centuries. In 1765, life expectancy was below 39 years, and only surpassed 40 years in the 1810s, 50 years by the 1910s, 60 years by the 1930s and 70 by the 1960s. While life expectancy has broadly improved since the 1700s, this trajectory was interrupted at various points due to wars and diseases. In the early 1920s, for example, life expectancy suffered a noticeable setback in the aftermath of the First World War and Spanish Flu Epidemic. Impact of COVID-19 While improvements to UK life expectancy stalled during the 2010s, it wasn't until the 2020s that it began to decline. The impact of COVID-19 was one of the primary factors in this respect, with 2020 seeing the most deaths in the UK since 1918. The first wave of the pandemic in Spring of that year was a particularly deadly time, with weekly death figures far higher than usual. A second wave that winter saw a peak of almost 5,700 excess deaths a week in late January 2021, with excess deaths remaining elevated for several years afterward.

In 2024, the life expectancy at birth for females born in the UK was just over 83 years, compared with around 79 years for men. By age 65, men had a life expectancy of almost 19 years, compared with over 21 years for women.

Period life expectancy by age and sex for England. Each national life table is based on population estimates, births and deaths for a period of three consecutive years. Tables are published annually.

Provisional deaths registration data for single year of age and average age of death (median and mean) of persons whose death involved coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales. Includes deaths due to COVID-19 and breakdowns by sex.

Male life expectancy at birth rose in all four countries of the United Kingdom in 2021-23 when compared with 2020/22. English men had a life expectancy of 79.07, compared with 76.78 in Scotland, 78.05 in Wales and 78.75 in Northern Ireland.

Pivot table for healthy life expectancy by age, sex and geographical area, divided by three-year intervals starting from 2011 to 2013.

Between 2021 and 2023, London was the region of the United Kingdom that had the highest average life expectancy for females, at ***** years, while South East England had the highest life expectancy for males at ***** years. By comparison, Scotland had the lowest life expectancy, at ***** for males and ***** for females.

Provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales, by age, sex, region and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), in the latest weeks for which data are available.

In 2024, the age-specific death rate for men aged 90 or over in England and Wales was 237.1 per one thousand population, and 205.7 for women. Except for infants that were under the age of one, younger age groups had the lowest death rate, with the death rate getting progressively higher in older age groups.

Update 2 March 2023: Following the merger of NHS Digital and NHS England on 1st February 2023 we are reviewing the future presentation of the NHS Outcomes Framework indicators. As part of this review, the annual publication which was due to be released in March 2023 has been delayed. Further announcements about this dataset will be made on this page in due course. The average number of additional years a man or woman aged 75 can be expected to live if they continue to live in the same place and the death rates in their area remain the same for the rest of their life. To ensure that the NHS is held to account for doing all that it can to prevent avoidable deaths in older people. This indicator captures all persons aged 75 and over. A correction was made to this indicator on the 6th March 2019 due to errors found in the data. The confidence intervals for females in the region breakdown for the 2015-17 time period were displayed the wrong way round and some of the upper intervals were rounded incorrectly. These have now been corrected. A further correction was made to this indicator on the 21st May 2020. For 2015-17, The population numbers presented within the local authority (LA) breakdown for females were found to be incorrect for three LAs. The affected LAs were Redcar and Cleveland (E06000003), Norwich (E07000148) and Redbridge (E09000026). These have now been corrected. The indicator value and confidence intervals for all three LAs were unaffected by the error. Legacy unique identifier: P01728

Between 2021 and 2023, life expectancy for women in the United Kingdom was highest in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, at 86.46 years, while for men it was highest in Hart, at 83.44.

National Records of Scotland Guidance;What is ‘period’ life expectancyAll of the estimates presented in this report are ‘period’ life expectancy. They are calculated assuming that mortality rates for each age group in the time period (here 2021-2023) are constant throughout a person’s life. Period life expectancy is often described as how long a baby born now could expect to live if they experienced today’s mortality rates throughout their lifetime. It is very unlikely that this would be the case as it means that future changes in things such as medicine and legislation are not taken into consideration.Period life expectancy is not an accurate prediction of how long a person born today will actually live, but it is a useful measure of population health at a point in time and is most useful for comparing trends over time, between areas of a country and with other countries.How national life expectancy is calculatedThe latest life expectancy figures are calculated from the mid-year population estimates for Scotland and the number of deaths registered in Scotland during 2021, 2022, and 2023. Life expectancy for Scotland is calculated for each year of age and represents the average number of years that someone of that age could expect to live if death rates for each age group remained constant over their lifetime. Life expectancy in Scotland is calculated as a three-year average, produced by combining deaths and population data for the three-year period. Three years of data are needed to provide large enough numbers to make these figures accurate and lessen the effect of very ‘good’ or ‘bad’ years. Throughout this publication, the latest life expectancy figures refer to 2021-2023 period. How sub-national life expectancy is calculatedWe calculate life expectancy for areas within Scotland using a very similar method to the national figures but with a few key differences. Firstly, we use age groups rather than single year of age. This is to increase the population size of each age group to reduce fluctuations and ensure accurate calculation of mortality rates. Secondly, we use a maximum age group of 90+ whereas the national figures are calculated up to age 100. These are known as ‘abridged life tables.’ Because these methods produce slightly different figures, we also calculate a Scotland figure using the abridged method to allow for accurate comparisons between local areas for example. This Scotland figure is only for comparison and does not replace the headline national figure. You can read more information about the methods in this publication in our methodology guide on the NRS website. Uses of life expectancyLife expectancy at birth is a very useful indicator of mortality conditions across a population at a particular point in time. It also provides an objective means of comparing trends in mortality over time, between areas of a country and with other countries. This is used to monitor and investigate health inequalities and to set public health targets. Life expectancy is also used to inform pensions policy, research and teaching.

The United Kingdom: Deaths of children under five years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2023 is 5 deaths per 1000 births, unchanged from 5 deaths per 1000 births in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 25 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for the United Kingdom from 1960 to 2023 is 12 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 4 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2016 while the maximum of 27 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1960.

The United Kingdom: Life expectancy, in years: The latest value from 2023 is 81.24 years, an increase from 81.01 years in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 73.65 years, based on data from 196 countries. Historically, the average for the United Kingdom from 1960 to 2023 is 76.2 years. The minimum value, 70.83 years, was reached in 1963 while the maximum of 81.37 years was recorded in 2019.

Annual UK and constituent country figures for births, deaths, marriages, divorces, civil partnerships and civil partnership dissolutions.

The United Kingdom: Life expectancy, in years, male: The latest value from 2023 is 79.36 years, an increase from 79.1 years in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 71.09 years, based on data from 196 countries. Historically, the average for the United Kingdom from 1960 to 2023 is 73.68 years. The minimum value, 67.9 years, was reached in 1963 while the maximum of 79.55 years was recorded in 2019.

There were 11,559 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending February 27, 2026, compared with 11,907 for the corresponding week in 2025. During this time period, the two weeks with the highest number of weekly deaths were in April 2020, with the week ending April 17, 2020, having 22,351 deaths, and the following week 21,997 deaths, a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Death and life expectancy As of 2024, the life expectancy for women in the UK was just over 83 years, and around 79 years for men. Compared with 1765, when average life expectancy was under 39 years, this is a huge improvement in historical terms. Even in the more recent past, life expectancy was less than 47 years at the start of the 20th century and was under 70 as recently as the 1950s. Despite these significant developments in the long-term, improvements in life expectancy stalled between 2009/11 and 2015/17, and even declined in the early 2020s. Between 2020 and 2022, for example, life expectancy at birth fell by 23 weeks for females, and 37 weeks for males. COVID-19 in the UK The first cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom were recorded on January 31, 2020, but it was not until a month later that cases began to rise exponentially. By March 5 of this year there were more than 100 cases, rising to 1,000 days later and passing 10,000 cumulative cases by March 26. At the height of the pandemic in late April and early May, there were around six thousand new cases being recorded daily. As of January 2023, there were more than 24.2 million confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United Kingdom, resulting in 202,156 deaths.

The United Kingdom: Deaths of children five to fourteen years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2023 is 0 deaths per 1000 births, unchanged from 0 deaths per 1000 births in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 3 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for the United Kingdom from 1990 to 2023 is 1 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 0 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2010 while the maximum of 1 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1990.

The United Kingdom: Deaths of female children under five years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2023 is 4 deaths per 1000 births, unchanged from 4 deaths per 1000 births in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 22 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for the United Kingdom from 1960 to 2023 is 10 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 4 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2011 while the maximum of 23 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1960.