Deaths rates in Scotland’s most deprived communities are almost twice as high as in the wealthiest, official figures show. 

A new report from National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows the gap is almost 16 times wider for deaths linked to drug misuse. The gap between the most and least deprived communities is four times as large for alochol-related deaths and twice as big for suicides.

Overall life expectancy has improved over the last four decades.

However, improvements have stalled in the last ten years and have recently begun to reverse.

The Scotland’s Population report for 2022 records Covid as a major cause of the recent fall in life expectancy.

However, increases in deaths by drugs, dementia, Alzheimer’s and a slowdown in the decrease in coronary heart disease deaths have all been found to have contributed to the stalling in life expectancy improvements.

Julie Ramsay, head of demographic statistics at NRS, said: “2022 saw the largest year-on-year decrease in drug misuse deaths on record but it was still 3.7 times as high as it was in 2000.

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