Death by postcode: Male life expectancy has shortened by six months in half a decade
Male life expectancy in Derry and Strabane has shortened by six months in half a decade, according to new Department of Health figures.
Life expectancy for men in Derry/Strabane in 2020-22 was 77.5 years. This was a decline from 78 years over the 2016-18 period.
The expected life span for men locally was nearly a year lower than the average for the North as a whole, which was 78.4 years in 2020-22.
And it was a substantial 2.9 years lower than in affluent Lisburn and Castlereagh where male life expectancy was 80.4 years – the highest in the North.
The findings were outlined in DoH’s statistical report ‘Life Expectancy in Northern Ireland 2020-22’.
Deaths from cancer, circulatory disease, suicide, accidental causes and ‘other causes’ were identified as the main contributors to the male life expectancy gap between districts like Derry and the average for the North.
“Male life expectancy was significantly lower than the NI average in Derry City & Strabane and Belfast LGDs,” the report’s authors outlined.
Female life expectancy in Derry/Strabane increased marginally over the past five years from 81.3 in 2016-18 to 81.5 in 2020-22 but it remained significantly lower than the average for the North which was 82.3 years.
The average female life span in Derry/Strabane was 1.6 years lower than the 83.1 year life expectancies recorded in both Lisburn and Castlereagh and Mid Ulster.
Cancer, circulatory disease and ‘other causes’ were the main contributors to the female life expectancy gap between areas with low life expectancies and the northern average.