The Guardian, a UK newspaper, recently published online a piece about the UK's improving life expectancy for men and women. While the life expectancy for men rose to 77.9, that for women rose to 82. Compared to the 2003-2005 period, the life expectancy for men rose by 1.4 years, while that for women rose by 1.1 years.

The statistics about life expectancy also demonstrated, however, the regional variations, especially the disparities between the North and South. The Glasgow region in particular has among the country's lowest life expectancy; low enough, in fact, to be compared with that of Albania and Palestine. Other regions displaying low life expectancy were the Western Isles of Scotland, and Liverpool, England. On the other hand, Kensington & Chelsea show the highest life expectancy, figuring at 84.4 years for males, and 89 years for females. The greatest improvement was in Westminster, where the life expectancy for males frose by 4.7 years and that for women 3.5 years.

Men are 68% likely to reach the age of 75 and the likelihood for women is 79%.

Experts are quick to note, however, that middle and upper class individuals are concentrated disproportionately in the south, contributing to the north-south disparity in life expectancy. Among other themes that factor into the low life expectancy in Glasgow are unemployment, poverty, industrial decline, and poor health.