Variations in Life Expectancy by Social Class

New from the Office for National Statistics is the release of updated data on life expectancy from the ONS Longitudinal Study. Key findings are that while life expectancy has risen for all social classes over the last 30 ears, people in professional occupations (Social Class I) have the longest expectation of life, followed by managerial and technical occupations (Social Class II), and so on. People in unskilled manual occupations (Social Class V) have the shortest expectation of life.

• Males in the professional class had a life expectancy at birth of 80.0, compared with 72.7 years for those in the manual unskilled class

• Females in the professional class had a life expectancy at birth of 85.1 years compared with 78.1 years for the unskilled manual class

• Unskilled men (Social Class V) aged 65 could expect to live a further 14.1 years, fractionally above the expectation of life professional men would have had in 1972-76 (14.0 years)

• Unskilled women aged 65 had an expectation of life of 17.7 years, less than professional women in 1972-76 (19.1 years)

Details can be found in Variations persist in life expectancy by social class – 2002-2005 data.

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