CPC modelling strand contributes to new ONS life expectancy tables

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the English Life Tables No. 17 (ELT17) on 1 September 2015, using data prepared by the University of Southampton.

Members of S3RI and CPC contributed to these tables, the seventeenth in the series, providing period life expectancy for males and females by single year of age for the three-year period centered on a census. ELT17 is produced using data from the three-year period 2010, 2011 and 2012. The previous set of English Life Tables (ELT16) for 2000-2002 was published in June 2009.

The decennial life tables show the increasing longevity of the population of England and Wales over a long period, and they can be compared with the experience of other countries and other groups of people.

The main points from ELT17 are:

• Over the last 100 years life expectancy at birth has increased by nearly three years per decade.

• For males, life expectancy at birth increased from 51 years in 1910-1912 to 79 years in 2010-12, while for females it increased from 55 to 83 years.

• Much of this increase is due to improvements in infant and child mortality in the first half of the 20th century, while gains in life expectancy at older ages have mainly occurred in the last 50 years.

• People aged 60 could expect to live around 9 years longer in 2010-2012 than 100 years earlier.

Read the full ONS article, 'How has life expectancy changed over time?'

ELT17 continues a long tradition of decennial life tables; this series has been produced for 170 years beginning with the 1841 Census. The idea was conceived by William Farr, the first Medical Statistician for the General Register Office who himself produced ELT 1, 2 and 3 between 1843 and 1864.

The full statistical release 'Decennial Life Tables, English Life Tables, No.17, 2010-12' is available on the ONS website.

Posted 04/09/2015 10:04