Life expectancy for men on the increase

Life expectancy in Orkney has increased by one year for men, but remained the same for women, according to a report released by the Registrar General for Scotland.

Men in the county can now expect to live to 77.3 years compared to the 2003/2005 figure of 76.3, while the figure for women remained constant at 81.4 years over the period.

Compared to other NHS board areas, Orkney has the second highest life expectancy in the country for males in 2008/2010, dropping from first in 2003/2005. Although female life expectancy has not changed, improvements in other board areas means Orkney drops from first in 2003/2005, to third in 2008/2010.

When considering the statistics by local authority area, for males, Orkney drops from a rank of sixth in 2003/05 to eighth in 2008/2010, and for females, the figures show a drop from first to eleventh over the same period of time.