Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the UK's ranking in life expectancy at birth for (a) males and (b) females over the last eight years against that of other EU member states.

In 2010, among the 28 European Union countries, the United Kingdom was ranked seventh highest for life expectancy in males at 78.6 years, 1.7 years higher than the EU average (76.9 years). For female life expectancy, the UK was ranked seventeenth highest for life expectancy at 82.6 years, 0.2 years lower than the EU average (82.8 years).

By 2016, for male life expectancy the UK had reduced in rank to tenth highest at 79.4 years, 1.2 years higher than the EU average (78.4 years). For female life expectancy, the UK remained ranked seventeenth highest at 83 years, 0.6 years lower than the EU average (83.6 years). Data on life expectancy by EU country can be accessed via EUROSTAT database. Further information is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database?node_code=tps00150