People living longer

Average life expectancy is increasing

Britons are living longer than ever before, according to government figures.

Official statistics show that average life expectancy has increased significantly since 1981.

However, longer lives mean the proportion of life men and women can expect to spend in poor health has also increased.

The figures show that average life expectancy for men increased from just under 71 years to just over 74 years between 1981 and 1995.

For women, life expectancy increased from just under 77 years to more than 79 years over the same period.

However, men are likely to spend the last eight years of their life in poor health and women are at risk of being ill for more than 10 years.

"Both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are higher in woman than men, but women can expect to live a larger proportion of years in poor health or with a limiting long-standing illness than men," said the Health Statistics quarterly from the Office for National Statistics.

But the length of a person's life is strongly influenced by where in the UK they live.

The figures show that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have higher mortality rates than England in almost every age group.

And in England, life expectancy is shorter for people living in the north of the country.

Overall, Glasgow has the worst record in the country and has the highest rates of mortality in the UK.

The risks of people dying early in Glasgow are twice that of those living in East Dorset, which has the lowest mortality rate in the UK.

The figures show that people living in urban and industrial areas, particularly in areas with industries based around coalfields, manufacturing, ports and industry, are more likely to die young.

They also show that men and women have a 40% chance of developing some form of cancer during their lifetime.

The figures reveal that the total number of new cases of cancer has remained largely the same in recent years.

But certain cancers have shown an increase - usually alongside higher survival rates.

The number of women developing breast cancer increased by 5% between 1995 and 1997. However, the number of people dying has fallen by 11% during the same period.

The incidence of lung cancer in men has been falling since the early 1980s and fell by a further 13% between 1994 and 1997.

An average of 72 out of every 100,000 men develop cancer. This compares to 34 new cases for every 100,000 women.

The number of men developing prostate cancer has also fallen, with total incidence falling by 8% between 1994 and 1997.