The Office for National Statistics says that the pace of improvement in life expectancy has slowed considerably in the last few years.

There also remain substantial regional gaps between ‘healthy’ life expectancy with differences of nearly 20 years between some regions in the UK.

ONS says that male and female life expectancy at birth - rising quickly at the beginning of the century - between 2013 to 2015 increased by only 0.2% and in the period 2016 to 2018 by only 0.1%.

It commented: “The size of these increases was substantially smaller than those observed during the first decade of the 21st century.”

Richmond-upon-Thames had the highest male ‘healthy life’ expectancy at birth in the UK of 71.9 years, 18.6 years longer than males in Blackpool where it was only 53.3 years.

In England, the lowest healthy life expectancy for females at birth was observed in Nottingham at 54.2 years and the highest was in Wokingham at 72.2 years, a gap of 18 years.

Note: * denotes areas where life expectancy has increased significantly 

England and Northern Ireland were the only UK constituent countries to show any significant improvements in life expectancy at birth between 2013 and 2018.

Life expectancy at birth was highest in the four most southerly regions of England for both males and females and London showed the largest gain between 2013 and 2018, said ONS.

Healthy life expectancy at age 65 improved at a faster rate than life expectancy for males and females in England and Wales, reducing the number of years lived in poorer health from age 65.

The ONS said: “The size of the life expectancy gain between 2013 and 2018 is small by historical standards, but in line with the observed pattern of stalling improvements since 2011. A decade earlier, life expectancy was growing 6.5 times faster for males and 8.2 times faster for females.

“People in England and males in Northern Ireland saw their life expectancy improve, but there were no significant changes in Wales and Scotland. The size of London’s gain continued to be notably larger than any other region.

“Meanwhile, there were reductions in the number of years lived in poorer states of health for both men and women at age 65 in Wales and England and for men in Northern Ireland.”

AJ Bell called the gap in male life expectancy at birth between Westminster (83.9 years) and Blackpool (74.5 years) “staggering.”

Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “There is a clear North-South divide when it comes to life expectancies.”

He added: “There is a near 10-year chasm between the average life expectancy of a male born in Westminster, one of the wealthiest parts of the country, and Blackpool, one of the most deprived regions in the North West. These vast differences present significant challenges across a wide range of social policy areas, not least retirement income provision and the state pension.”