The Office of National Statistics has just issued its latest bulletin on life expectancy by local authority area. This shows life expectancy for for men and women, taken across Reading as a whole, continuing to rise, although slowly.
Figures taken from the bulletin show life expectancy at birth and at age 65 for males and females at different times:
| 1991-93 | 2000-2002 | 2008-10 | 2010-12 | 2012-14 | |
| Males at birth | 73.9 | 75.9 | 77.4 | 78.4 | 78.5 |
| Females at birth | 79.6 | 81.1 | 82.5 | 82.7 | 82.9 |
| Males at age 65 | 16.4 | 17.8 | 18.0 | 18.0 | |
| Females at age 65 | 19.8 | 20.8 | 20.9 | 21.0 |
Of course, these figures cannot take account of future changes in medicine or society but they sum up where we are today.
Comparing with other local authorities in Berkshire we see for life expectancy at brith for 2012-14:
| Males | Females | |
| Bracknell Forest | 81.4 | 85.0 |
| Reading | 78.5 | 82.9 |
| Slough | 78.6 | 82.9 |
| West Berks | 81.0 | 84.3 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | 80.8 | 84.8 |
| Wokingham | 81.8 | 84.7 |