Life expectancy has dropped because of antibiotic resistance, says ONS

Antibiotic resistance has caused a fall in life expectancy for the first time, the Office for National Statistics has said.

Life expectancy in future years has been revised down after the statistics authority said that "less optimistic views" about the future had to be taken into account.

Opinions on "improvements in medical science" had declined, it said, and fears of the "re-emergence of existing diseases and increases in anti-microbial resistance" meant people would not live as long as was previously expected.

The ONS uses predictions about how medicine and science will improve to model how life expectancy will change.

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