§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the latest figures on life expectancy, infant mortality rates, and numbers on sickness benefit as a percentage of working population in the United Kingdom; and what information is available on comparable figures in West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and the European Economic Community average.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 15 January 1987, c. 302]: The information requested about life expectancy and infant mortality rates is given in the table. The figures for countries other than the United Kingdom are taken from Eurostat demographic statistics 1986. Life expectancy figures represent estimates of the expectation of life at birth based on mortality rates for the most recent years available. This information is supplied to Eurostat by the countries concerned and differences in method may account for some of the observed variation. The infant mortality rates are 1984 figures except the European Economic Community average which relates to 1983.
Country Life expectancy at birth (years) Infant deaths per 1,000 live births Male Female United Kingdom 71.4 77.2 9.6 West Germany 70.5 77.1 8.6 France 71.2 79.3 8.2 Italy 70.6 77.4 11.3 The Netherlands 73.0 79.5 8.3 Denmark 71.5 77.5 7.7 Belgium 70.0 76.8 10.7 EEC 170.6 177.4 210.2 1 Excluding Spain and Portugal. Notes on how these figures are estimated are given in the introduction to the Eurostat publication. 2 Including Spain and Portugal. Information about numbers receiving sickness benefit is not available in the form requested. On 31 March 1985, 1,074,550 people in Great Britain were receiving sickness or invalidity benefit. This figure does not include those receiving statutory sick pay, about who comparable information is not available. The working population of Great Britain in March 1985 was 26,802,000 (Source: Department of Employment Gazette. Information about recipients of sickness benefit in other European countries is not available.