Life expectancy for older women has fallen after decades of rises as unhealthy lifestyles and cuts to social care take their toll . Life expectancy for older women has fallen after decades of rises as unhealthy lifestyles and cuts to social care take their toll . The predicted life spans of women aged 65 , 75 , 85 and 95 fell in 2012 – the first time since 1995 that falls in all four age groups were recorded . By 2013 , the average 75-year-old woman could expect to live another 13 years and five weeks – five weeks less than in 2011 , a Government report shows . For a woman aged 85 , the expected span was six years and 42 weeks – two and a half months less . The study also found that increasing life expectancy for men in their sixties and seventies had stalled , and had fallen for those in their eighties and nineties . If the change becomes a trend , it could mark the end of an expectation by baby boomers that they will continue to live longer and longer . Life expectancy for English women is already among the worst in Western Europe . The findings will add to fears that the rising consumption of alcohol and unhealthy food is taking a terrible toll . Poor standards in many care homes and reduced home help could also prompt early deaths , experts say . The deterioration follows three decades in which annual average life expectancy has increased by 1.2 per cent for men aged 65 and 0.7 per cent for women . The study by Public Health England said it was too early to say whether the change was a long-term one . Professor John Ashton , president of the UK Faculty of Public Health , said : ‘ One of the issues we have seen is women living lifestyle ’ s becoming more like those of men over recent decades , with more smoking and drinking. ’ Scroll down for video . He also suggested the falls could reflect cutbacks in social care , which he said had been ‘ hammered ’ in recent years . Recent governments had failed to invest in care for an ageing population , Professor Ashton said , leaving insufficient help for the frail and vulnerable . He added : ‘ There has been a failure of successive governments in that we should have seen that trends were changing , that more people would be living longer and we needed to put services in place to look after them . ‘ We are letting down a generation which came back from the war and built the welfare state. ’ By 2013 , the average 75-year-old woman could expect to live another 13 years and five weeks – five weeks less than in 2011 , a Government report shows . Public Health England said the fall among women aged 65 was the first since 1995 , while that among those aged 75 had not been seen for nine years . It called the falls statistically significant . Since then , the figures for women in their sixties have recovered to their 2011 level , but the 2013 statistics for older women remained worse than those two years earlier . It means average life expectancy for a women of 85 is now two and a half months shorter than in 2011 . Health officials need a third year ’ s data to establish whether the figures from 2012 and 2013 mean life expectancy is levelling off or entering a more worrying decline . The report said : ‘ Within England , although female life expectancy at all four ages fell in 2012 , and for males it fell at ages 85 and 95 and remained static at ages 65 and 75 , it is too early to say whether this represents a slowing in the upward trend or the start of a downward trend. ’ Public Health England said the impact of the recession could be one reason why life expectancy fell in several European countries . Flu outbreaks and cold winters may also be to blame . Caroline Abrahams , of the charity Age UK , said : ‘ This decrease in life expectancy , after many years of improvement , is like the canary in the coal mine . It is telling us that something has changed for the worse , so that fewer people are thriving in later life than they could or should . ‘ The most likely culprit is the rapid decline of state-funded social care in recent years , which is leaving hundreds of thousands of older people to struggle on alone at home without any help . 'This decrease in life expectancy , after many years of improvement , is like the canary in the coal mine ' ‘ More and more older people are living with several incurable conditions and illnesses . Determined action now to sustain social care and to support older people with multiple long-term health conditions more effectively can hopefully make this a blip , rather than the start of a terrible trend. ’ Despite the new figures , a 65-year-old man in the UK can expect to live 18 years and six months – still almost five and a half more years than 30 years ago . A woman of the same age can expect 21 more years – a gain of almost four years in the last three decades . Men of 75 can now expect to live 11 years and 15 weeks , with 13 years five weeks for women , while at 85 , men can expect five years and 42 weeks , and women six years and 42 weeks .
Predicted life spans of women aged 60s , 75 , 85 and 95 fell in 2012 . Also found increasing life expectancy for men in 65 and 70s had stalled . Life expectancy for English women already among worst in West Europe .