Life expectancy rises in RBWM, but men continue to lag behind women

Men continue to lag behind women in terms of life expectancy in RBWM, new data has shown, though life expectancy has nonetheless been increasing.

The Government data compares life expectancy from 2001 to 2024, and splits it into males and females, who face different outcomes.

On average, women live longer than men all over the globe. A lot of this is down to deaths happening earlier in life.

In the Royal Borough, life expectancy for men has improved compared to the England average.

They can expect to live to nearly 82 years old, compared to 79 for England as a whole. This has gone up from age 77 in RBWM.

Surrounding authorities see similar trends of increased life expectancy – and four of the six local authorities in Berkshire are doing better than the England average, as is Buckinghamshire.

The picture is similar for women – once again, RBWM trumps the England average (85 years compared to 83 years).

Meanwhile, Slough is the only local authority area in Berkshire scoring lower than England, at 82 years old.

Across the whole of the UK, male life expectancy in Slough scores 298th of all local authorities, while RBWM comes 33rd.

Wokingham, West Berkshire and Bucks are also in the top 50 – in fact, Wokingham scored second out of all UK local authority areas.

For women, RBWM does better still in the rankings, taking the 25th spot – with Slough remaining low at 253rd. Wokingham came 12th and Bucks came 22nd.

Because deaths of younger men bring the average down, the Government logs separate data for how long men and women can expect to live after the age of 65.

Women post-65 can expect to live for an average of 22–23 years more in RBWM, while for men it’s 20 years.

Life expectancy has gone up by more than three years since 2001-03 for both men and women, keeping the existing gap between the genders steady, rather than getting bigger or smaller.

For Slough, post-65 men can expect to live an average of 18 years and for women it’s about 21 years.

Councillor Catherine del Campo, RBWM’s cabinet member for adult services, health and housing services (Lib Dem, Furze Platt) said:

“Life expectancy figures for residents in our borough have improved over time. Important factors include being part of communities with good access to housing, education, transport, leisure opportunities, stable jobs and excellent green spaces.

“Despite these improvements during the past decade, we’re not complacent. We continue to focus on improving healthy life expectancy and reducing inequalities that exist in our borough, working closely with our health partners as well as local voluntary and community groups.

“We continue to commission NHS Health Checks in local GP surgeries, free smoking cessation support and free drugs and alcohol services among others.

“We’ll soon be launching our new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy which sets out our priorities and ambitions for the next decade. Developed with feedback from our residents, we'll be focused on prevention, tackling inequalities and improving people’s health and wellbeing at all stages of their lives.”