Glasgow no longer has Britain’s lowest male life expectancy
The Office for National Statistics has found that Glasgow is no longer the area in the UK with the lowest male life expectancy.
This has been taken by Blackpool. On average, a baby boy is expected to live 73.1 years in Blackpool compared to 73.6 years in Glasgow.
Glasgow is still Scotland’s lowest life expectancy area with East Renfrewshire being the best. In East Renfrewshire a baby boy is expected to live 81 years.
Glasgow, however, isn’t improving. Glasgow is still following the downward trend it has been on for the past four years.
Part of the reason for this downtrend is heart disease, which accounts for 10% of male deaths in Scotland, according to the Scottish Public Health Observatory.
However, by far the biggest contributor to Scotland’s lowering male life expectancy is men taking their own life.
In 2024, 590 men committed suicide, which is just shy of triple how many women did. The rate of suicide in smaller communities is also far higher than in urban environments, 20.5 people per 100,000 compared to 13.2.
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, this is largely attributed to the isolation men can feel in these communities and also that these areas are typically more traditional, with men being expected to bottle up their personal issues.
It also ties into postcode with people living in Scotland’s most deprived areas 2.5 times more likely to take their own life than those living in less deprived areas. This is also higher than the standard deprivation gap of 1.8 times for all causes of death, according to Samaritans.
Jackie Walls founded Tartan Talkers, a suicide prevention charity based in Dunfermline She said: ”We are finding we’re getting loads of young men, phoning in because of relationship problems. They’re struggling to deal with the breakups.
“And an issue that compounds this is drugs. They can have a massive effect on someone’s mental health and in times of crisis so many men turn to them.
“Furthermore, people can’t escape things because of social media. People base their popularity on just how many likes they get. This is causing a massive lack of self-esteem in young men.
“We need to start looking after our young men, they need to be told they’re as valuable members of society as anyone else.”
Tartan Talkers is just one of the many mental health charities in Scotland that are trying to fix the problem. They regularly hold events and gatherings for people suffering from mental health issues. But also offers private counselling too.
But it isn’t just charities that are trying to fix the problem. The Scottish Government has pledged to double the funding for suicide prevention from £1.4m to £2.8m by 2026. They’ve also set out a 10-year suicide prevention plan which runs until 2032.
In this, they set out the frameworks they plan on using to tackle the problem, and each year go back to assess the issue. The next annual progress report is due in July of this year, in which they’ll also set out next year’s action plan.
If you need to talk to someone now, their phone lines are open from 6pm at 01383242960 or contact the NHS’ suicide and crisis lifeline at 988.
