Life expectancy rises in Wiltshire
The county is bucking the national trend
Life expectancy for men and women in Wiltshire has gone up - with women seeing the biggest rise.
Office for National Statistics data shows a boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until they are 80.9 years old, up slightly from 80.8 in 2015-17.
While life expectancy for females has risen from 80 to 84.5 years.
The figures contrast with the picture across the UK where life expectancy for men has decreased for the first time since records began whilst for females it has stayed around the same.
Statisticians have blamed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but said the figures do not necessarily mean those born in recent years will go on to live a shorter life.
Pamela Cobb, of the ONS centre for ageing and demography, said:
“Life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years, albeit at a slower pace in the last decade.
“However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a greater number of deaths than normal in 2020.
“Consequently, in the latest estimates, we see virtually no improvement in life expectancy for women, while for men life expectancy has fallen back to levels reported for 2012 to 2014.
“This is the first time we have seen a decline when comparing non-overlapping time periods since the series began in the early 1980s.”