Longer life expected in rural areas

Latest evidence of a north-south divide on life expectancy came from the Office for National Statistics, who have surveyed 374 local authorities in England and Wales.

For men, north Dorset offers the longest average life, at 79.6 years, while in Manchester it goes down to 69.7 years. Liverpool comes third worst, at 72 years.

For women the longest expectancy, in west Somerset, is 83.5 years, with the worst also in Manchester at 76.3 years.

Rural benefits

Christchurch and east Dorset have the second and third highest expectancies for men, with 79.5 years and 79.4, respectively. Cambridgeshire comes in fourth at 79.3.

Although the areas with the highest life expectancy were mainly rural, Kensington and Chelsea came 18th out of the 374 local authorities surveyed.

In the wealthy London borough, men can typically expect to live until the age of 78.5.

For women, the second and third longest expectancies are in Purbeck, Dorset at 83.4 years and Guildford, Surrey at 83.3.

The areas outside Manchester with the lowest life expectancy for women are Wansbeck, in Northumberland, at 77.6 years and 77.1 for Liverpool, according to the survey.

The latest figures for 1999 to 2001 were calculated using newly-released 2001 mid-year population estimates, based on the 2001 Census.