Two age-old phrases have been quantified for the very first time. Following a nationwide survey*, Club Vita, the longevity comparison club, can now reveal the length of ‘a good innings’ and ‘a ripe old age’. Across the nation, ‘a good innings’ is defined as 85-plus while ‘a ripe old age’ is nearer to 90 years, almost four years apart.  Both terms, as defined by the British public, are well-ahead of national figures for life expectancy**. 

While more than half of Britons expect to live past the age of 80, the city of Plymouth takes pride of place in expecting to produce most centenarians. Liverpudlians expect to live to an average of 82 years 2 months. Londoners expect to live to some 81 years along with the residents of Plymouth, Nottingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Bristol and Brighton.

Other cities are altogether more pessimistic. In Belfast, residents expect to achieve a life span of just 77 years. Cities where residents expect to live for less than 80 years include Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Southampton (all cited 79 years as their ‘great expectation’).

When aiming for ‘a good innings’, Glaswegians are inclined to cite family medical history as the magic ingredient for ageing well.  In Belfast, more people look to fitness, exercise and diet as the secret to living longer. Meanwhile, chilled-out Brighton is more concerned about the effect stress could have on how long they live than are other UK city dwellers.

Curiously, compared with residents of other cities, more Londoners appear to think that climate change will ‘get’ them in the end. This may explain why London is the area with the highest retirement exodus rate. Just 16 per cent of Londoners intend remaining in ‘the big smoke’ when they retire!

City residents expressing most concern over life expectancy factors:

Life expectancy factor	Most concerned	2nd most concerned
Alcohol consumption	Edinburgh (56%)	Newcastle (54%)
Climate change	London (18%)	Brighton (17%)
Diet	Belfast (79%)	Edinburgh (74%)
Family medical history	Glasgow (85%)	Sheffield (81%)
Pension/Retirement provision	Edinburgh (42%)	London (40%)
Fitness/Exercise	Belfast (79%)	Bristol (72%)
Occupation	Belfast (24%)	Southampton (24%)
Personal wealth	Glasgow (29%)	Edinburgh (28%)
Post code	Edinburgh (34%)	London (32%)
Smoking levels	Brighton (59%)	Edinburgh (54%)
Stress levels	Brighton (64%)	Belfast (62%)

Nick Flint, Chief Executive of Club Vita, said: “It’s fascinating to see the regional differences perceived by the nation.  Club Vita’s research has, in addition, uncovered huge variation within the individual cities.  For example we see a three year variation in lifespan between different areas of London, from the effects of lifestyle alone.”

Notes to Editors:

*The research for Club Vita was carried out online by Opinion Matters/Tickbox.net between 13/11/2008 and 19/11/2008 amongst a nationally representative sample of 1815 UK adults aged 16+.

** National Statistics cite life expectancy at age 65 of 82.2 years for men and 84.9 years for women.  Club Vita statistics show an improvement on national figures citing life expectancy at age 65 in 2007 of 82.7 years for men and 85.5 years for women.