Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the South West
Life expectancy at birth in the South West is 80.3 years for men and 84.1 for women; healthy life expectancy, the years lived in good general health, is 62.4 and 62.4 years (ONS, 2022–2024). Life expectancy is above England’s for both men (by 0.8 years) and women (by 0.8 years), a difference larger than the margins of error. Healthy life expectancy is 1.5 years above England’s for men and similar to it for women, allowing for the margins of error in the estimates.
- Healthy life expectancy 62.4
- Years in poorer health 19.8
- Life expectancy 82.2
- England: 61.1 healthy, 81.4 in total
Life expectancy: above England’s for both men and women
ONS period life expectancy at birth for 2022–2024: the average number of years a baby born in the South West would live if the death rates of those three years applied throughout life. It describes the population, not any one person. Definition and source.
- Above England (79.5)
- Above England (83.3)
- England 81.4
“Above” or “below” means the two 95% confidence intervals do not overlap; “similar to” means they do. England: men 79.5 (95% CI 79.4–79.5), women 83.3 (95% CI 83.3–83.4). How Lifemap compares figures.
Healthy life expectancy: above England’s for men, similar to it for women
ONS healthy life expectancy at birth for 2022–2024: of the years in life expectancy, the number a baby born in the South West would live in good general health, based on how people rate their own health in a survey. Because it rests on a survey sample, its intervals are wider than those for life expectancy. Definition and source.
- Above England (60.9)
- Similar to England (61.3)
- England 61.1
Comparisons work as for life expectancy above. England: men 60.9 (95% CI 60.7–61.2), women 61.3 (95% CI 61.0–61.6). 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 of councils.
- England 18.6
- England 22.0
- England 20.3
How the figures have changed
ONS figures for the South West 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: 51 of the 64 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 77.4 in 2001–2003 to 80.3 in 2022–2024, a change larger than the margins of error. Women: rose from 81.7 in 2001–2003 to 84.1 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 | 80.3 | 80.2–80.4 | 84.1 | 84.0–84.2 |
| 2021–2023 | 80.1 | 80.0–80.2 | 84.0 | 83.9–84.1 |
| 2020–2022 | 80.0 | 80.0–80.1 | 83.9 | 83.9–84.0 |
| 2019–2021 | 80.3 | 80.2–80.3 | 84.1 | 84.0–84.2 |
| 2018–2020 | 80.3 | 80.2–80.4 | 84.1 | 84.0–84.1 |
| 2017–2019 | 80.4 | 80.3–80.5 | 84.1 | 84.0–84.2 |
| 2016–2018 | 80.2 | 80.1–80.3 | 83.8 | 83.7–83.9 |
| 2015–2017 | 80.2 | 80.1–80.3 | 83.7 | 83.6–83.8 |
| 2014–2016 | 80.2 | 80.1–80.3 | 83.8 | 83.7–83.9 |
| 2013–2015 | 80.1 | 80.0–80.2 | 83.8 | 83.7–83.9 |
| 2012–2014 | 80.1 | 80.0–80.2 | 83.9 | 83.8–84.0 |
| 2011–2013 | 80.0 | 79.9–80.0 | 83.7 | 83.7–83.8 |
| 2010–2012 | 79.9 | 79.8–79.9 | 83.7 | 83.6–83.8 |
| 2009–2011 | 79.6 | 79.5–79.7 | 83.5 | 83.5–83.6 |
| 2008–2010 | 79.3 | 79.2–79.4 | 83.2 | 83.1–83.3 |
| 2007–2009 | 79.0 | 78.9–79.1 | 83.0 | 82.9–83.1 |
| 2006–2008 | 78.8 | 78.7–78.9 | 82.9 | 82.8–83.0 |
| 2005–2007 | 78.6 | 78.5–78.7 | 82.8 | 82.7–82.9 |
| 2004–2006 | 78.4 | 78.3–78.5 | 82.6 | 82.5–82.7 |
| 2003–2005 | 78.0 | 77.9–78.1 | 82.2 | 82.1–82.3 |
| 2002–2004 | 77.7 | 77.6–77.8 | 82.0 | 81.9–82.0 |
| 2001–2003 | 77.4 | 77.3–77.5 | 81.7 | 81.6–81.8 |
- Men
- Women
- 95% confidence interval
Men: fell from 64.8 in 2011–2013 to 62.4 in 2022–2024, a change larger than the margins of error. Women: fell from 65.7 in 2011–2013 to 62.4 in 2022–2024, a change larger than the margins of error.
Healthy life expectancy at birth: figures for each period
| Period | Men | 95% CI | Women | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–2024 | 62.4 | 61.7–63.2 | 62.4 | 61.6–63.3 |
| 2021–2023 | 63.0 | 62.3–63.8 | 62.9 | 62.0–63.7 |
| 2020–2022 | 64.1 | 63.5–64.8 | 64.7 | 64.0–65.5 |
| 2019–2021 | 64.4 | 63.8–65.1 | 66.0 | 65.3–66.7 |
| 2018–2020 | 64.8 | 64.2–65.4 | 65.8 | 65.1–66.5 |
| 2017–2019 | 65.2 | 64.6–65.8 | 65.6 | 64.9–66.2 |
| 2016–2018 | 64.9 | 64.3–65.5 | 65.8 | 65.2–66.5 |
| 2015–2017 | 65.0 | 64.4–65.5 | 65.7 | 65.1–66.4 |
| 2014–2016 | 64.6 | 64.1–65.2 | 65.8 | 65.1–66.4 |
| 2013–2015 | 64.6 | 64.0–65.1 | 65.9 | 65.3–66.5 |
| 2012–2014 | 64.9 | 64.3–65.4 | 65.6 | 65.0–66.2 |
| 2011–2013 | 64.8 | 64.3–65.3 | 65.7 | 65.1–66.3 |
Years of life, and of good health, from age 65
At 2022–2024 rates, men reaching 65 in the South West could expect, on average, a further 19.4 years of life, 10.8 of them in good health; for women the figures are 21.9 and 12.4 years. These are averages for everyone of that age, at the death rates and health of 2022–2024.
- England 18.9
- England 21.4
- England 10.1
- England 11.1
ONS, 2022–2024. Lifemap’s dataset holds no confidence intervals for the figures at 65, so they are shown without comparison. Definitions and sources.
Lowest and highest councils in the South West
The councils with the lowest and highest published estimates, for men and women, in 2022–2024. Life expectancy is compared across districts and single-tier councils, not the counties, whose figures include their districts’; healthy life expectancy across the upper-tier councils ONS publishes it for. Councils near either end are often within each other’s confidence intervals.
| Measure | Lowest | Highest | Councils |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy, men | 78.3 Gloucester | 82.0 Cotswold | 26 |
| Life expectancy, women | 82.1 Gloucester | 85.6 | 26 |
| Healthy life expectancy, men | 55.2 Plymouth | 65.3 | 14 |
| Healthy life expectancy, women | 54.0 Plymouth | 65.6 | 14 |
Councils in the South West
The region has 14 upper-tier councils and 14 districts, which sit within the counties listed in the first table. Figures in years, 2022–2024. Each council’s page has the 95% confidence intervals, comparisons with England and the council’s rank.
Upper-tier councils
| Life expectancy | Healthy life expectancy | Years in poorer health | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council | Type | Life expectancy, Men | Life expectancy, Women | Healthy life expectancy, Men | Healthy life expectancy, Women | Years in poorer health, Average of men and women |
| Bath and North East Somerset | Unitary authority | 81.4 | 84.9 | 65.3 | 65.6 | 17.7 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | Unitary authority | 79.7 | 83.9 | 61.4 | 61.5 | 20.3 |
| Bristol, City of | Unitary authority | 78.5 | 83.0 | 60.1 | 60.1 | 20.7 |
| Cornwall | Unitary authority | 79.5 | 83.6 | 60.2 | 60.0 | 21.5 |
| Devon | County | 80.6 | 84.6 | 63.7 | 64.0 | 18.7 |
| Dorset | Unitary authority | 81.1 | 84.8 | 65.3 | 65.6 | 17.5 |
| Gloucestershire | County | 80.3 | 83.9 | 63.4 | 63.4 | 18.7 |
| North Somerset | Unitary authority | 80.8 | 84.2 | 62.6 | 62.4 | 20.0 |
| Plymouth | Unitary authority | 78.6 | 82.6 | 55.2 | 54.0 | 26.0 |
| Somerset | Unitary authority | 80.2 | 84.1 | 62.8 | 63.0 | 19.3 |
| South Gloucestershire | Unitary authority | 81.0 | 84.7 | 64.2 | 64.0 | 18.8 |
| Swindon | Unitary authority | 79.9 | 83.7 | 61.5 | 61.4 | 20.3 |
| Torbay | Unitary authority | 78.6 | 83.2 | 61.5 | 61.9 | 19.2 |
| Wiltshire | Unitary authority | 81.3 | 84.7 | 63.8 | 63.7 | 19.2 |
ONS’s annual life expectancy and healthy life expectancy estimates give no separate figures for the Isles of Scilly: its population is too small for reliable estimates.
Districts
| Life expectancy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council | County | Life expectancy, Men | Life expectancy, Women | Life expectancy, Average of men and women |
| Cheltenham | Gloucestershire | 80.0 | 84.0 | 82.0 |
| Cotswold | Gloucestershire | 82.0 | 84.6 | 83.3 |
| East Devon | Devon | 81.4 | 85.6 | 83.5 |
| Exeter | Devon | 79.1 | 83.1 | 81.1 |
| Forest of Dean | Gloucestershire | 79.7 | 83.6 | 81.7 |
| Gloucester | Gloucestershire | 78.3 | 82.1 | 80.2 |
| Mid Devon | Devon | 80.7 | 84.1 | 82.4 |
| North Devon | Devon | 79.2 | 83.6 | 81.4 |
| South Hams | Devon | 81.5 | 85.6 | 83.6 |
| Stroud | Gloucestershire | 80.8 | 84.4 | 82.6 |
| Teignbridge | Devon | 81.1 | 84.9 | 83.0 |
| Tewkesbury | Gloucestershire | 81.4 | 84.7 | 83.1 |
| Torridge | Devon | 80.3 | 83.8 | 82.1 |
| West Devon | Devon | 80.7 | 85.3 | 83.0 |
ONS’s annual healthy life expectancy is published for upper-tier and single-tier councils, not English districts. A district’s own page shows its county’s annual figure, labelled as the county’s, and ONS’s separate census-based estimate for the district, which is not comparable and is not listed here.
England’s other regions
- North Eastmen 77.7 · women 81.6
- North Westmen 77.9 · women 81.9
- Yorkshire and The Humbermen 78.3 · women 82.3
- East Midlandsmen 79.0 · women 82.8
- West Midlandsmen 78.7 · women 82.8
- East of Englandmen 80.3 · women 84.0
- Londonmen 80.5 · women 84.7
- South Eastmen 80.7 · women 84.4
Life expectancy at birth, years, 2022–2024. England · United Kingdom · Rankings · Download the data. Lifestyle figures (smoking, weight, activity, diet and drinking) are on each council’s page; Lifemap’s dataset has none for regions.