People in Renfrewshire are spending fewer years in good health, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland.
The latest data, covering 2022 to 2024, shows healthy life expectancy has fallen across Scotland since the mid-2010s. Healthy life expectancy is the number of years a person can expect to live in good health.
Across Scotland, healthy life expectancy is now 59.4 years for females and 59.1 years for males.
In Renfrewshire, it is lower than the national average for both sexes.
Females in Renfrewshire can expect to spend 56.5 years in good health. The 95% confidence interval – which shows the range within which the true figure is likely to sit – is 51.6 to 61.4 years.
For males in Renfrewshire, healthy life expectancy is 54.5 years. The 95% confidence interval is 50.4 to 58.6 years.
Females have lost almost four years of healthy life expectancy since 2014-2016. Males have lost almost three years over the same period.
Life expectancy itself has not fallen as sharply. It has increased slightly in recent years and is now close to pre-pandemic levels. However, healthy life expectancy has not recovered in the same way. This means people are likely to spend a greater proportion of their lives in poor health.
The figures are based on a national survey. People are asked to rate their health as very good, good, fair, bad or very bad. Those who say their health is very good or good are counted as being in good health.
The gap between the most and least deprived communities remains wide.
Females living in the 10% most deprived communities spend around 60% of their lives in good health. Males in those areas spend around two thirds of their lives in good health and have a life expectancy of 69.8 years.
In the 10% least deprived communities, females and males can expect to spend more than 80% of their lives in good health.
Head of vital events statistics at National Records of Scotland, Phillipa Haxton, said: “While life expectancy increased to around pre-pandemic levels for both females and males, healthy life expectancy has not increased. This means people are likely to be spending a greater proportion of their life in poor health than in previous years. The gap between the most and least deprived communities is even more stark for this measure than it is for life expectancy.”
The areas of Scotland where healthy life expectancy was lower than average for both sexes were North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. It was also lower than average for males in North Ayrshire.
Areas with higher than average healthy life expectancy included Orkney Islands, East Renfrewshire, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeenshire, East Dunbartonshire and the City of Edinburgh.