Technical note
How the Newcastle Metro life expectancy map was made
The map is a station-local view of life expectancy and deprivation. It does not estimate life expectancy for passengers, births at stations or individual people. It connects each Metro station to the small public health geography around it and uses published area estimates.
What the map measures
The health measure is life expectancy at birth, shown in years. It refers to newborn males and females, from the day they are born. The figures used in the animation are sex-specific MSOA estimates for the period 2019 to 2023. MSOA means Middle Layer Super Output Area: a small statistical geography used for local public health reporting.
The map focuses on male life expectancy in the main station view because it shows the largest spread across the station-local areas in this extract. Female estimates are included in the final comparison table so the reader can see whether the broad inequality pattern also appears for females.
Who the figures refer to
The figures refer to newborn males and females, from the day they are born. They do not refer to adults living near the stations now, older residents, Metro passengers or people who were born between 2019 and 2023.
The phrase "2019 to 2023" is the mortality period used to calculate the estimate. It means deaths and population at each age were observed over those five years, then used to estimate how long a newborn male or female would live if those local death rates continued through life.
The animation uses the published OHID Fingertips MSOA life expectancy estimates. The points below explain the life-table logic behind that type of estimate.
- The calculation uses deaths and population across all ages, separately for males and females, in the local MSOA.
- Those age-specific death rates are put into a life table. The life table follows a hypothetical newborn through life as if the 2019 to 2023 death rates applied at each age.
- The result is expressed as expected years from birth. A value of 69.7 means about 69.7 expected years for a newborn male under that area's 2019 to 2023 mortality pattern.
- It is a period estimate, not a prediction for a named person. Real lives will depend on future mortality, migration, health care, housing, income, environment and many other things.
- Five years are pooled because small-area life expectancy is unstable when based on a single year. The trade-off is that the estimate also includes the COVID-19 pandemic years.
This is why the figures can be compared across the mapped station-local areas. Each station-local value is calculated on the same basis: newborn males or females, the MSOA around the station, and the same 2019 to 2023 mortality period. The gaps shown on the map are therefore differences in expected years from birth between station-local areas, not differences in the ages of current residents.
Data sources
| Life expectancy | Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Fingertips, life expectancy at birth, MSOA based, 2019 to 2023, male and female. See OHID Fingertips search. |
|---|---|
| Deprivation | English Indices of Deprivation 2025. IMD ranks 33,755 LSOAs in England from most deprived to least deprived and divides them into 10 deciles. D1 is the most deprived 10%; D10 is the least deprived 10%. See the official statistical release and FAQ on ranks and deciles. |
| Station locations | Department for Transport National Public Transport Access Nodes data. NaPTAN provides public transport access points including rail, tram, underground and metro stations. See NaPTAN data portal. |
| Geography lookups | Office for National Statistics geography products and lookup files for LSOA and MSOA geographies. See the ONS Open Geography Portal. |
| Base map | The animation was designed around the Tyne and Wear Metro map sourced from the Travel North East Metro maps page: Tyne and Wear Metro Maps. |
| Opening Newcastle map | The faded Newcastle map at the start of the page uses Newcastle upon Tyne OSM 02 from Wikimedia Commons. The map image is credited to OpenStreetMap contributors and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. |
How station-local values were created
- Metro station points were matched to the local small-area geography around the station.
- The station's local LSOA supplied the deprivation rank and decile.
- The station's local MSOA supplied the male and female life expectancy estimates.
- The animation retained stations where a stable MSOA life expectancy estimate was available.
This means the numbers are best read as "the area around this station", not "the people using this station". Some nearby stations can share an MSOA value if they sit in the same small-area geography.
How the headline gaps were calculated
- The largest male gap is the highest station-local male life expectancy minus the lowest station-local male life expectancy. In this extract: 83.4 years at Ilford Road and South Gosforth minus 69.7 years at Byker, giving 13.7 years.
- The nearby contrast is South Gosforth minus Fawdon for male life expectancy: 83.4 minus 74.4, giving 9.0 years.
- The deprivation gap compares the average life expectancy for D9/D10 station-local areas with the average for D1/D2 station-local areas. In this extract the gap is 6.1 years for males and 4.5 years for females.
- My personal birth-area rank of 478 out of 33,755 is interpreted as D1 because rank 1 is the most deprived and D1 is the most deprived tenth of English LSOAs.
Important interpretation points
- Life expectancy at birth is a period measure. It summarises mortality rates during the period used; it is not a forecast for a named person.
- The 2019 to 2023 period includes the COVID-19 pandemic years, so the estimates reflect that mortality context.
- MSOA averages can hide variation inside the area. They are useful for showing broad local patterns, but they are not the lived experience of every resident.
- Deprivation is a summary of several domains. It is not a judgement on a place or its people.
- The map shows association and geography. It should be read alongside wider evidence on income, housing, work, environment, services and health systems.