Life expectancy is one of the two key indicators developed to monitor the reduction in the health inequalities gap described in Tackling health inequalities: a programme for action (2003) and defined as:
Life expectancy at birth is given as the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. It is also seen as a measure of overall quality of life in an area, summarising the mortality at all ages.
The Kent Local Area Agreement (LAA) aims to reduce the disparity in life expectancy across the county. It concentrates on reducing the gap between the 20% of areas with the highest and the 20% of areas with the lowest life expectancy, currently a difference of 6.5 years. The target is to reduce this gap to 6 years by 2011.
Further information about life expectancy can be found on the Department of Health website at:
