MOST people living in Dorset will live longer than anyone else in the country, new statistics have shown.

A girl from Dorset can expect to reach the grand old age of 84.8 – 2.1 years more than in 2000 and higher than those from any other county in the UK.

Boys born to parents in Dorset will live to 80.6 years – 1.4 years longer than in 2000 and the second longest-living county residents in the country after males in Surrey.

And those living in East Dorset can expect to survive longer from birth than residents living in other local authority areas across Dorset and New Forest.

Men in East Dorset can now expect to live until the age of 82 – just below those in Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

And women there live until the age of 85.9 – below Epsom and Ewell, Hart, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.

The figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) give a snapshot of lifespans in every local area across Britain.

While people are living longer in the UK on average, children born in the south of England statistically have a longer life ahead of them than those brought up in Scotland and the North.

On average, life expectancy at birth has gone up – from 77 years to 78.2 for men and from 81.3 years to 82.3 years for women. Statistically, the English have a longer future ahead of them than those living in the rest of the UK, peaking at 78.6 for men and 82.6 for women.

The Scottish have the lowest life expectancy, reaching the average age of 75.8 years for men and 80.4 years.

The ONS said its figures showed that “inequalities persist” across the UK.

The variations have been attributed to a string of social factors, which include factors to do with differing lifestyles including: alcohol consumption and smoking; the proportion of people living in deprivation; the availability of local services; environmental conditions; and a person’s social class and socio-economic status.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the figures should send a “stark warning” to a government “intent on forcing people to retire far later”.

“Life expectancy in deprived areas of the UK is increasing at half the pace of the wealthiest parts of London and the South,” he said. “People living in these areas can also expect their retirement to be a decade shorter.”

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the government was taking urgent action to reverse the trend.

Cllr Spencer Flower, leader of East Dorset District Council, added last night: “The Council welcomes the news which confirms that East Dorset continues to be a very healthy area to live and is pleased to be playing its part in sustaining this position.”