Historical trend
Trend summary
UK life expectancy at birth was 81.0 years in 2020–22, slightly above the G7 average.
Trend
- Life expectancy rose by around six years between 1980 and 2010, but improvement has slowed markedly since then.
- COVID-19 reduced UK life expectancy by approximately 1.3 years in 2020; recovery has been partial.
- The UK (81.0) ranks 4th of 7 in the G7, behind Japan (83.9), Italy (82.6), and France (82.1).
Context
- ONS publishes national life tables for three-year rolling periods; England, Wales, Scotland, and NI figures differ.
- Life expectancy at birth measures expected years of life under current age-specific mortality rates; it is not a projection.
Trend summary generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 on 12 January 2024. Contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
G7 comparison
UK ranks #4 of 7 in the G7 (higher is better)
🇯🇵 Japan
84 years
🇮🇹 Italy
83 years
🇫🇷 France
83 years
🇨🇦 Canada
82 years
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
81 years
🇩🇪 Germany
81 years
🇺🇸 United States
78 years
About this indicator
- Source
- ONS / OECD
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Last updated
- 16 June 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Rising trend is…
- Positive
Statistics
- Latest
- 81.4 years
- Period high
- 81.4
- Period low
- 71.6
- Period average
- 76.7