Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Belfast
Life expectancy at birth in Belfast is 76.5 years for men and 80.5 for women; healthy life expectancy, the years lived in good general health, is 56.9 and 56.6 years. Healthy life expectancy is below Northern Ireland’s for both men (by 3.9 years) and women (by 4.1 years), a difference larger than the margins of error.
- Healthy life expectancy 56.8
- Years in poorer health 21.7
- Life expectancy 78.5
- UK: 60.8 healthy, 81.1 in total
Life expectancy: below Northern Ireland’s for both men and women
ONS period life expectancy at birth for 2022–2024: the average number of years a baby born in Belfast would live if the death rates of those three years applied throughout life. It describes the population, not any one person. Definition and source.
- Below Northern Ireland (78.8)
- Below the UK (79.2)
- Below Northern Ireland (82.6)
- Below the UK (83.0)
- Northern Ireland 80.7
- United Kingdom 81.1
Ranks are among the 11 Northern Ireland districts, highest first, and describe the published estimates: councils close together in a ranking are often within each other’s confidence intervals. “Above” or “below” means the two 95% confidence intervals do not overlap; “similar to” means they do. Northern Ireland: men 78.8 (95% CI 78.6–79.0), women 82.6 (95% CI 82.5–82.8); United Kingdom: men 79.2 (95% CI 79.1–79.2), women 83.0 (95% CI 83.0–83.1). How Lifemap compares figures.
Healthy life expectancy: below Northern Ireland’s for both men and women
ONS healthy life expectancy at birth for 2022–2024: of the years in life expectancy, the number a baby born in Belfast would live in good general health, based on how people in the area rate their own health. Because it rests on a survey sample, its intervals are wider than those for life expectancy. Definition and source.
- Below Northern Ireland (60.8)
- Below the UK (60.7)
- Below Northern Ireland (60.7)
- Below the UK (60.9)
- Northern Ireland 60.8
- United Kingdom 60.8
Ranks and comparisons work as for life expectancy above. Northern Ireland: men 60.8 (95% CI 60.0–61.7), women 60.7 (95% CI 59.8–61.6); United Kingdom: men 60.7 (95% CI 60.5–60.9), women 60.9 (95% CI 60.7–61.2). How Lifemap compares figures.
Years in poorer health
Life expectancy minus healthy life expectancy: Lifemap’s arithmetic on the ONS figures, which ONS does not publish itself. Definition · Ranking.
- Northern Ireland 18.0
- United Kingdom 18.5
- Northern Ireland 21.9
- United Kingdom 22.1
- Northern Ireland 19.9
- United Kingdom 20.3
How the figures have changed
ONS figures for each three-year period, with the 95% confidence interval shaded. Consecutive periods share two of their three years, so the change from one period to the next is small: 58 of the 58 period-to-period changes shown here are within the confidence intervals. Compare periods several years apart, and check whether their intervals overlap. Reading trends.
- Men
- Women
- 95% confidence interval
Men: rose from 73.8 in 2001–2003 to 76.5 in 2022–2024, a change larger than the margins of error. Women: rose from 79.6 in 2001–2003 to 80.5 in 2022–2024, a change larger than the margins of error.
Life expectancy at birth: figures for each period
| Period | Men | 95% CI | Women | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–2024 | 76.5 | 76.1–76.9 | 80.5 | 80.2–80.9 |
| 2021–2023 | 76.5 | 76.1–76.9 | 80.6 | 80.2–80.9 |
| 2020–2022 | 75.8 | 75.4–76.2 | 80.4 | 80.0–80.7 |
| 2019–2021 | 75.6 | 75.2–76.0 | 80.4 | 80.0–80.7 |
| 2018–2020 | 75.8 | 75.4–76.2 | 80.4 | 80.0–80.7 |
| 2017–2019 | 76.1 | 75.7–76.5 | 80.8 | 80.4–81.2 |
| 2016–2018 | 76.3 | 75.9–76.7 | 81.0 | 80.6–81.3 |
| 2015–2017 | 75.8 | 75.4–76.3 | 80.9 | 80.5–81.3 |
| 2014–2016 | 76.0 | 75.6–76.4 | 81.1 | 80.7–81.4 |
| 2013–2015 | 75.9 | 75.5–76.3 | 81.0 | 80.6–81.3 |
| 2012–2014 | 75.9 | 75.5–76.3 | 81.0 | 80.7–81.4 |
| 2011–2013 | 75.7 | 75.3–76.1 | 80.8 | 80.5–81.2 |
| 2010–2012 | 75.5 | 75.0–75.9 | 80.7 | 80.3–81.1 |
| 2009–2011 | 75.4 | 75.0–75.8 | 80.5 | 80.1–80.9 |
| 2008–2010 | 74.8 | 74.4–75.2 | 80.2 | 79.8–80.6 |
| 2007–2009 | 74.4 | 73.9–74.8 | 80.1 | 79.7–80.4 |
| 2006–2008 | 74.1 | 73.7–74.6 | 80.0 | 79.6–80.4 |
| 2005–2007 | 74.1 | 73.7–74.5 | 80.1 | 79.7–80.4 |
| 2004–2006 | 74.2 | 73.8–74.7 | 80.0 | 79.6–80.4 |
| 2003–2005 | 74.1 | 73.7–74.5 | 79.9 | 79.5–80.3 |
| 2002–2004 | 73.9 | 73.5–74.3 | 79.7 | 79.3–80.1 |
| 2001–2003 | 73.8 | 73.4–74.2 | 79.6 | 79.2–80.0 |
- Men
- Women
- 95% confidence interval
Men: 56.5 in 2014–2016 and 56.9 in 2022–2024; the intervals overlap, so this is not clear evidence of a change. Women: 58.6 in 2014–2016 and 56.6 in 2022–2024; the intervals overlap, so this is not clear evidence of a change.
Healthy life expectancy at birth: figures for each period
| Period | Men | 95% CI | Women | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–2024 | 56.9 | 54.7–59.0 | 56.6 | 54.2–59.1 |
| 2021–2023 | 57.0 | 54.9–59.0 | 56.3 | 53.8–58.8 |
| 2020–2022 | 56.1 | 54.0–58.2 | 56.2 | 53.7–58.7 |
| 2019–2021 | 55.6 | 53.5–57.7 | 56.6 | 54.0–59.2 |
| 2018–2020 | 57.9 | 55.8–60.0 | 59.1 | 56.8–61.3 |
| 2017–2019 | 56.2 | 53.9–58.4 | 57.7 | 55.5–59.8 |
| 2016–2018 | 57.8 | 55.4–60.3 | 58.6 | 56.1–61.0 |
| 2015–2017 | 57.9 | 55.0–60.7 | 59.0 | 56.3–61.7 |
| 2014–2016 | 56.5 | 53.8–59.3 | 58.6 | 55.9–61.3 |
Years of life, and of good health, from age 65
The state pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. At 2022–2024 rates, men reaching 65 in Belfast could expect, on average, a further 17.4 years of life, 8.6 of them in good health; for women the figures are 19.5 and 8.8 years. These are averages for everyone of that age in the area, at the death rates and health of 2022–2024.
- Northern Ireland 18.6
- Northern Ireland 20.8
- Northern Ireland 9.9
- Northern Ireland 10.3
ONS, 2022–2024. Lifemap’s dataset holds no confidence intervals for the figures at 65, so they are shown without comparison. Definitions and sources.
Smoking, weight, activity, diet and drinking
Adult figures from each nation’s own health surveys. The definitions match across England, Scotland and Wales, but the surveys and periods differ, and Public Health Wales’s figures are age-standardised, so compare across borders with care. Survey periods and definitions.
- None of the five measures is published for Northern Ireland’s council districts. The Health Survey Northern Ireland publishes them for the five Health and Social Care Trusts instead, whose samples are large enough. Belfast is within the trust shown below.
- Adults who smoke16.6%2023/24
- Adults with obesity (BMI 30 or over)22.8%2023/24
- Adults physically active (150+ minutes a week)48.3%2023/24
- Adults eating five portions of fruit and veg a day35.6%2023/24
- Adults drinking over 14 units a week24.4%2022/23
Definitions: smoking · overweight or obese · physically active · five a day · drinking over 14 units.
Cite this page
Lifemap (2026). Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Belfast, 2022–2024. Dataset version 26 September 2026. https://lifemap.org.uk/area/belfast/ Data: Office for National Statistics (life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2022–2024); Department of Health Northern Ireland, Health Survey Northern Ireland (lifestyle, trust level). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Office for National Statistics, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.