People living in West Dunbartonshire have one of the shortest life expectancies anywhere in Scotland, according to new figures.

Research by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed that women in the area are expected to live until they are 78.4 years old - a figure worse than any other authority bar Glasgow City, for which life expectancy is 78.0.

Men in the region have a life expectancy of 73.4 years - again the second lowest in the country behind Glasgow, at 72.9.

The figures cover the period 2019-2021 and show a drop in life expectancy compared to previous figures, for 2018-2020.

Those gave women a life expectancy at birth in the area of 78.8 and men a figure of 74.1.

The NRS says its research suggests that deaths from Covid-19 are behind the latest fall in the figures.

Neighbouring Argyll and Bute fared significantly better, with an average life expectancy of 81.9 years for a women and 77.7 years for a man.

Across the country, life expectancy at birth in Scotland fell in the 2019-21 study period, with the average life expectancy at birth being 76.6 years for men and 80.8 years for women.

The figures for 2019-2021 continue the drop of the previous year, which was the sharpest fall since 1980-1982.

In the most deprived areas of Scotland, average male life expectancy was 13.7 years lower than in the least deprived areas. For females the difference was 10.5 years.

This gap has become wider in recent years and Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all UK countries.

Julie Ramsay, head of vital events statistics at NRS, said: “Life expectancy has decreased by more than 11 weeks for males and almost eight weeks for females since 2018-2020.

“Our analysis shows that Covid-19 deaths accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy for both males and females.”