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Birth Rate & Life Expectancy

Mother and Baby

Birth Rate

The birth rate is the total number of live births every year per 1000 population.

The Midlothian birth rate is 10.5. This is above the Scottish rate and has been gradually declining for the last three years (2018-20) while Scotland’s rate has declined to 8.6.

In Midlothian, there were 979 births in 2020.

 

Life Expectancy

Life Expectancy is an estimate of the number of years a new-born child would live if it was to experience the current mortality rate for all of its life. Scotland has one of the lowest life expectancies in Western Europe.

The life expectancy at birth in Midlothian is slightly above the Scottish average (2018/20) and is fairly static. Women live longer than men, both overall and in good health. However there are stark differences in health as a result of poverty and social disadvantage. Life expectancy varies by up to 10 years across different parts of Midlothian.

Life Expectancy in Midlothian (and Scotland)

Life expectancy was considerably higher for females than for males in Midlothian and Scotland over the period 2014 to 2020. Males and females born in Midlothian between 2018 and 2020 had a life expectancy of 77.4 and 81.1 years respectively. In Scotland, life expectancy of males and females have both increased slightly over the time period but there was less change in Midlothian. Female life expectancy in Midlothian slightly decreased from 81.4 to 81.1 from 2014 to 2020 and life expectancy for males decreased slightly from 77.8 to 77.4 years.

 

Healthy Life Expectancy is the average number of years that a new-born can expect to live in full health. It is a key summary measure of a population's health. Locally the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy has increased by 1.5 years for men and 2.5 for women since the last Joint Needs Assessment data was collated in 2018. This mirrors the national trend of people living a longer period of their life in poorer health, resulting i a likely increase in health and social care needs.

Male Life and Healthy Life Expectancy (2018-2020)

Life expectancy was higher in Midlothian than in Scotland for males born between 2018 and 2020, whereas healthy life expectancy was slightly higher in Scotland. Life expectancy was slightly higher in Midlothian, at 77.4 years, compared with 76.8 in Scotland while healthy life expectancy had a greater gap with 58.6 and 60.9 for Midlothian and Scotland respectively

 

 

Female life and healthy life expectancy (2018-2020)

Both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were higher in Midlothian than in Scotland for females born between 2018 and 2020. Life expectancy was slightly higher in Midlothian at 81.2 years, compared with 81.0 in Scotland while healthy life expectancy had a greater gap with 63.7 and 61.8 for Midlothian and Scotland respectively.

 

Implications

Life expectancy has plateaued. People are living a longer period of their life in poorer health resulting in a likely increase in health and social care needs.