BY CARLA BASU

As the life expectancy in Scotland continues to decrease for the third year in a row, with 76.5 years for men and 80.7 years for women, we must ask ourselves how we are able to improve our lifestyles in order to increase our life expectancy. Junior Paramedic, Allison Kerr, voiced that she doesn’t believe the life expectancy in Scotland is going to increase as there are “not enough resources available to combat” this growing issue. Allison also added that she believes the government should be doing more to tackle the problem. Dietician, Kerri Major, supported Allison’s comment by stating; “I think there’s just unfortunately probably a lot more work that needs to be done for support from the government. I think probably, because that’s often where it all stems from, is just how, I keep going back to it but what food and things cost is often what it comes to. Especially when we’re in an area that’s such, that has such a big issue with deprivation.”

It can be suggested that some individuals believe there is more support that the government should be providing in order to prevent the decrease in life expectancy. Scottish Journalist and Broadcaster, Andrew Neil, has made several comments suggesting that the SNP are to blame for the staggering decline in Scotland’s average life expectancy. In an online article Neil published for the MailOnline, he argued that due to the SNP’s obsession with Independence, they have neglected other major societal issues which has impacted the overall life expectancy figures.

Recent figures have also shown that over the past 16 years with the SNP being in power, alcohol related deaths in Scotland had risen to 1,276 in 2022, which had increased from 1,245 in 2021.

Although there are several questions for the government on what they should be doing to increase the life expectancy in Scotland, is there anything that people of Scotland could do to improve their lifestyle choices? I spoke with fitness instructor Danny Birds about his view on the life expectancy decline. Mr Birds stated; “We’ve got more fast-food restaurants, people have poor diets and also, I think it’s related to the deprived areas in Scotland, being in the sort of, built up cities as well so, I think there’s definitely positives in Scotland and everything is going in the right direction.”

There is significant evidence that shows there are many ways in which the people of Scotland can be encouraging a healthier way of living in order to increase their life expectancy. However, questions continue to be asked on whether there is more the government should be doing to tackle this issue. Click on the link to listen to expert advice and more information on this current topic.