Life expectancy rates for kids born in Dumfries and Galloway are at their lowest level for more than a decade.
New stats show that a baby boy born in the region between 2021 and 2023 is likely to live for an average of 76.87 years, with baby girl living for an average of 80.9 years.
Both figures are below the figure for 2017 to 2019 – the last pre-pandemic level – and are the lowest since the late 2010s.
Life expectancy for men aged over 65 has also fallen to below pre-pandemic levels, although expectancy for women in the same age group has risen slightly.
The figures were revealed by the Office for National Statistics, which show that life expectancy in Scotland for boys born between 2021 and 2023 was 76.8 – down from 77.2 in 2017 to 2019.
Life expectancy for baby girls fell from 81.1 to 80.8 over the same period.
In Dumfries and Galloway, the baby boy life expectancy of 76.87 years was the lowest since 2008 to 2010, when the figure was 76.75.
And the baby girl figure of 80.85 was the lowest since 2007 to 2009, when the figure was 80.51.
ONS also revealed life expectancy for men and women over the age of 65, with the Scottish figures of 17.56 years and 19.68 years respectively – both slightly down on the pre-pandemic figure.
In Dumfries and Galloway, the life expectancy for men over 65 between 2021 and 23 was 17.88 years – the worst rate 2013 to 2015 when it was 17.77.
Expectancy for women over 65 was 20.05 years – above the pre-pandemic figure from 2017 to 2019 of 20.03 years.
While the pandemic disrupted the small improvements in life expectancy seen between 2010 and 2019, it does not necessarily mean a baby born between 2021 and 2023 will go on to live a shorter life than one born between 2017 and 2019.
The ONS said: “If mortality rates improve in the future, then period life expectancy will increase.