How long people live for

Life expectancy at birth for an area in a given time period is an estimate of the average number of years a new-born baby would survive if he or she experienced a particular area’s age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life.

Herefordshire life expectancy higher than nationally

Life expectancy in males and females have increased steadily in Herefordshire since 1991-93 with both figures being consistently higher than those for England as a whole (Figure 1). For those born in Herefordshire in 2015-17 the average life expectancy is 79.8 years for males and 83.6 years for females, which means that for a newborn baby boy born in Herefordshire can expect to live 4.9 years longer than a quarter of a century ago; the corresponding figure for a newborn baby girl is 3.5 years. However, since 2012-14 life expectancy for both sexes have shown small falls locally, although both figures remain higher than those for England.

Figure 1: Life expectancy at birth

Herefordshire healthy expectancy higher than England

Healthy life expectancy for both males and females in Herefordshire have shown little change since 2009-11, although both local figure have remained higher than those for England as a whole (Figure 2). In 2015-17 males in Herefordshire spent 83% of their lives in good health compared to 80% across England; for females the local figure was 81% compared to 77% nationally.

Figure 2: Healthy life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy lower in more deprived areas

For males born in 2015-17 in the most deprived areas Herefordshire life expectancy is 5.2 years lower than those born in the least deprived areas. A similar pattern is observed for females with the difference being is 3.2 years.