Half of the 20 UK constituencies with the lowest life expectancy are in Scotland, according to new research findings branded "deplorable" by health campaigners.

The campaign group Health Equals analysed data from the Office for National Statistics to determine the life expectancy for babies born this year in all 650 parliamentary constituencies.

It found that being born in one of the wealthiest areas of the country adds 12 years to your life on average.


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Children in Cities of London and Westminster can expect to live to 88, while those born in Glasgow have a life expectancy of 76.

The Herald:

The report reveals that 15 of the 20 parliamentary constituencies with the highest life expectancies are in London and the south east.

The lowest life expectancy was in Blackpool South at 75 while Leeds Central, Manchester Central, Middlesborough were all on a par with Glasgow at 76.

READ MORE: Westminster blamed for 'good health' slump in Scotland 

People living in Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, Dundee West, Inverclyde, Motherwell and Wishaw and West Dunbartonshire can expect to live to 77 while life expectancy in North Ayrshire and Arran, Paisley and Renfrewshire North and South and Ayr Carrick and Cumnock was 78.

Scotland can do better 

East Renfrewshire and East Dumbarton had the highest life expectancy rate in Scotland at 82, followed by the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, Perth and North Perthshire, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine which had a projection of 81.

The Herald:

The place where babies were born and grew up was said to be a bigger contributor to their future health than "individual behaviours and genetics" or access to NHS and social care.

The disparities are described as "entirely preventable" with poor housing, substandard education and poverty for "cutting short millions of lives by over a decade".

READ MORE: Life expectancy gap between richest and poorest in  Glasgow bigger now than 20 years ago

The lowest life expectancy in England is the Blackpool south constituency, at 78, followed by Bradford West at 79.

Responding to the report, Professor Chik Collins, Director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health said: “This report confirms what we already know about poverty and life expectancy in Glasgow and Scotland relative to the rest of the UK. 

"The causes and the required policy solutions are also known, based on robust evidence and research. 

"The challenge is to get the required action at all levels of government to ensure communities have decent access to the fundamental requirements for good health. 

"Worryingly, the cost-of-living crisis will only be exacerbating these deplorable health outcomes. 

"The First Minister called this crisis a “humanitarian emergency” and was right to do so. 

"The next first minister of Scotland must escalate action to address the emergency, to avoid even worse, generational impacts.”

Health Equals, a coalition of 29 organisations led by the Health Foundation think tank, is calling for new government strategies to reverse health inequalities.

David Linden the  SNP's Social Justice spokesperson, said: "Thirteen years of callous Tory austerity is now impacting every inch of the UK - but nowhere more so than in Glasgow.

"The Tories, alongside pro-Brexit Labour, have trashed the UK's economy so badly that households are now facing the biggest drop in living standards in 50 years. 

"Scotland can do so much better than this.

"However, for as long as we find ourselves under Westminster control, we will never realise our full potential."