LIFE expectancy has continued to rise in Northern Ireland, despite falling for men in the UK for the first time since records began.
A boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until he is 79.0 years old, down from 79.2 years for the period 2015-2017, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Estimates for females are broadly unchanged, with a baby girl born in 2018-20 likely to live for 82.9 years, the same as in 2015-17.
The ONS said the figures reflect the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a greater number of deaths than usual last year.
Comparable data on life expectancy begins in 1980-82, when a newly born male was expected to live for 70.8 years and a female 76.8 years.
However, regional figures show male life expectancy falling in England from 79.5 years in 2015-17 to 79.3 years in 2018-20 and 77 to 76.8 in Scotland, but rising slightly in Northern Ireland from 78.4 to 78.7.
It has stayed "broadly unchanged" in Wales at 78.3.
For women, life expectancy dropped in Wales from 82.3 to 82.1 and Scotland from 81.1 to 81.0, but again rose "slightly" in Northern Ireland from 82.3 to 82.4 and remaining mostly flat in England at 83.1.
Pamela Cobb, of the ONS said: "Life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years, albeit at a slower pace in the last decade.
"However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a greater number of deaths than normal in 2020.
"Consequently, in the latest estimates, we see virtually no improvement in life expectancy for women, while for men life expectancy has fallen back to levels reported for 2012 to 2014.
"This is the first time we have seen a decline when comparing non-overlapping time periods since the series began in the early 1980s."
However, she said the latest figures do not mean that a baby born between 2018 and 2020 will necessarily go on to live a shorter life.
"These estimates rely on the assumption that current levels of mortality, which are unusually high, will continue for the rest of someone's life.
"Once the coronavirus pandemic has ended and its consequences for future mortality are known, it is possible that life expectancy will return to an improving trend in the future."
