NEW stats have revealed the average life expectancy rates in Reading.

The most recent figures (from the years 2017 - 2019) were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week.

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They show that, for females in the town, life expectancy rates have lowered since the 2009-2011 period, but had slightly increased for males.

Most figures have increased since the earlier 2001- 2003 period.

For females, the life expectancy average from birth is 83 years of age, while for men the average is 79 years.

The largest disparity between male and female life expectancy at birth in 2017 to 2019 was in the West Midlands, although this has narrowed by over a month since 2014 to 2016.

Life expectancy in English regions, males and females, between 2001 to 2003 and 2017 to 2019

Edward Morgan, Centre for Ageing and Demography, ONS, said: "The improvements in life expectancy at birth for males and females in the UK between 2016 to 2018 and 2017 to 2019, although lower than historical improvements prior to 2011, were the highest annual improvements for five years.

"The gap in annual improvements in life expectancy at birth between males and females has been narrowing since 2013 to 2015.

"In 2017 to 2019, female life expectancy improvements were seen to slightly exceed those for males for the first time since the start of the published data series in 1981 to 1983.

"However, it is too early to say whether this is a trend that will continue into the future.

"The impact of COVID-19 on period life expectancy will be shown in the National life table for 2018 to 2020 which will be published in Autumn 2021.

"The National life tables 2017 to 2019 were produced using data up to the end of December 2019, and therefore precede the COVID-19 pandemic."

The lowest regional life expectancy for both males and females in 2017 to 2019 was observed in the North East; the North East's life expectancy at birth was also lower than in the countries of Wales and Northern Ireland but higher than in Scotland.

The largest local area increase in life expectancy between 2009 to 2011 and 2017 to 2019 for males at birth was in Westminster, while for females it was in Scotland's council area of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

The national average life expectancy at birth in the UK in 2017 to 2019 was 79.4 years for males and 83.1 years for females - slight improvements were observed from 2016 to 2018 of 6.3 weeks and 7.3 weeks for males and females respectively.

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The relatively low increases in life expectancy at birth in 2017 to 2019 suggest a continuation of a trend observed since 2011, where annual life expectancy improvements have slowed down in comparison with the previous decade.

Figures are based on the number of deaths registered and mid-year population estimates, aggregated over three consecutive years.