DATA has revealed how long the average person is expected to live in County Durham.

The most recent figures (from the years 2017 to 2019) were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week and show the expected life expectancy from birth.

The average life expectancy rates across County Durham reveal women live years longer than men, at 81.4 and 78.2 respectively. 

A breakdown of areas within County Durham is not available. 

Data does not show a strong difference when compared with Darlington. Here, men are expected to live for 78.7 years, and women for 82.3 years.

Female life expectancy improvements were seen to slightly exceed those for males for the first time since the start of the published data series in 1981 to 1983. However, it is too early to say whether this is a trend that will continue.

The stats are a measure of the average number of years people will live beyond their current age, with this data based on life expectancy at birth.

Average life expectancy at birth for women in the North-East is 81.6 and 77.9 for men - the lowest regional expectancy. The North-East was also lower than in Wales and Northern Ireland but higher than in Scotland.

Across the UK, life expectancy at birth was 83.1 years for women and 79.4 years for men; slight improvements from 2016 to 2018 of 7.3 weeks and 6.3 weeks respectively.

The relatively low increases suggest a continuation of a trend since 2011, where annual life expectancy improvements have slowed down in comparison with the previous decade.

Edward Morgan, Centre for Ageing and Demography, Office for National Statistics said Covid had not impacted the stats.

He said: "The impact of Covid-19 on period life expectancy will be shown in the National life table for 2018 to 2020 which will be published in Autumn 2021.

"The National life tables 2017 to 2019 were produced using data up to the end of December 2019, and therefore precede the COVID-19 pandemic."

Figures are based on the number of deaths registered and mid-year population estimates, aggregated over three consecutive years.