COVID-19 to Cut UK Life Expectancy by 9 Months: RBC Analysts

The coronavirus pandemic is seen cutting life expectancy in the UK by nine months, Royal Bank of Canada analysts said, helping to reverse trends of longevity.

The estimate from insurance stock analysts Gordon Aitken and Mandeep Jagpal was based on statistics from the U.K. Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, as well as data from insurance companies.

“There may be continued waves of COVID, and poorer health due to long COVID,” they wrote in a note to clients. “There may be second order effects such as delayed diagnoses and treatment of other conditions, and the impact of the economic slowdown may be detrimental.”

The increased mortality will allow the life insurers to release more funds that have been set aside in reserves, boosting operating profit by 7.4 billion pounds ($9.8 billion), or 16%, each year for the next five years, RBC said.

A June report from epidemiologist Michael Marmot at University College London, showed a life expectancy reduction of 0.9 years across England in 2020. A report in the British Medical Journal last month, meanwhile, said 28 million excess years of life were lost in 2020 across 31 countries that the study considered.

–With assistance from Jon Menon.

Photograph: A man adds someone’s initials to the hearts and names on the National Covid Memorial wall, near St Thomas’ hospital on Dec. 02, 2021 in London, United Kingdom. As the Christmas party season approaches, the government is advising that gatherings can still go ahead, despite the emergence of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Photo credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images.