MALE life expectancy in the Suffolk Coastal district is among the longest in the country, a new report has revealed.

A man in Suffolk Coastal district can expect to live to the age of 81, compared to an England and Wales average of 78 years, which places the region in the top 20 for rates of life expectancy out of all the local authorities. The average life expectancy for a woman in the Suffolk Coastal area is 84 years.

The figures were released in the annual public health report, which is being presented at NHS Suffolk's annual general meeting today and gives an in-depth health profile of each local authority area in the county, as well as an overview of Suffolk, highlighting the differences in life expectancy and lifestyle behaviours.

Dr Peter Bradley, public health director of NHS Suffolk and Suffolk County Council, said: 'There have been a number of initiatives in the Suffolk Coastal area to help improve health and wellbeing.

'Suffolk is already a healthy county. Over the last decade life expectancy has continued to increase to an average of 79.4 years for men and 83.4 years for women. However, there is still a 12-year difference between electoral wards with the highest life expectancy and that with the life expectancy in Suffolk.'

Other results in the report shows that premature deaths in Ipswich have dramatically decreased over the last 17 years. The number of deaths among men aged under 75 in Ipswich decreased by 30.4% and deaths among women aged under 75 decreased by 29.3%.

In 2008 and 2009, the prevalence of smoking among adults in Ipswich was 20.4% – compared to 18.1% for the NHS Suffolk area. The number of adult smokers in Suffolk Coastal was just 12%.

The report also revealed the number of teenage pregnancies in Babergh dropped by 22.6% in the last 12 years.

Teenage conception rates in Mid Suffolk were also lower than any other Suffolk district. Between 2005 and 2007 the teenage conception rate in Mid Suffolk was 21.6 per 1000 girls aged 15 to 17, compared to 43.6 in Waveney for example.