Poorer people in Ireland and those with a disability have a shorter lifespan than those who are better off, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
Managerial, technical and professional workers also have lower mortality rates than unskilled workers, according to a research paper, Mortality Differentials in Ireland 2016-2017, released today by the CSO.
Life expectancy at birth is greatest according to the affluence of the area in which the person lived at the time of the 2016 census, the study shows.
“Life expectancy varies by area of deprivation (quintiles),” CSO statistician Carol Anne Hennessy explained.
“In 2016, the number of expected life years at birth was 84.4 and 87.7 years for males and females respectively in the least deprived areas, compared to 79.4 years and 83.2 years for those residing in the most deprived areas."
The figures show that males in the First Quintile category – the least deprived – lived on average until the age of 82 while men in the Fifth Quintile (most deprived) lived until the age of 79. In the case of females, the corresponding average life expectancy was 85.5 for the least deprived and 83.2 for the most deprived.
Furthermore, life expectancy is higher for females across all ages and quintiles. At age 0, females are expected to live 85.5 years compared to 82.0 years for males, a difference of 3.5 years.
Life expectancy at birth is greatest according to the affluence of the area in which the person lived at the time of the 2016 census. This relationship applied for both males and females at ages 0, 20, 35 and 65 years with the exception of males aged 65 in quintiles 3 and 4.
Life expectancy was also influenced by disability. A 35-year-old male with a disability is expected to live a further 39.7 years compared to an expected additional 53.4 years for a 35-year-old male without a disability.
Looking at the situation overall in the European Union, the study shows that life expectancy at birth in the EU-28 was estimated at 81.0 years in 2016, reaching 83.6 years for women and 78.2 years for men. Between 2002 and 2016, life expectancy in the EU28 increased by 3.3 years, from 77.7 years to 81.0 years; the increase was by 2.7 years for women and 3.7 years for men.
