Life expectancy at birth for an area in each time period is an estimate of the average number of years a new-born baby would survive if he or she experienced the particular area’s age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. Life expectancy at birth is also not a guide to the remaining expectancy of life at any given age. For example, if female life expectancy was 80 years for a particular area, life expectancy of women aged 75 years in that area would exceed 5 years. This reflects the fact that survival from a particular age depends only on the mortality rates beyond that age, whereas survival from birth is based on mortality rates at every age.
The Department of Health 2004 Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets include increasing average life expectancy at birth in England to 78.6 years for men and to 82.5 years for women and to reduce health inequalities by 10% by 2010 as measured by life expectancy at birth (PSA objective 1). Average life expectancy is determined by mortality at all ages. Therefore, the range of influences on life expectancy is vast and includes all those influences on health at each age. All of the health determinants will have an impact on life expectancy. Average life expectancy is therefore a good summary indicator of the health status of the population. A gap in health status exists between different areas in the country, different social groups, the population as a whole, different black and minority ethnic groups, and men and women.
Legacy unique identifier: P01075