Changes to the state pension age could have differing implications for healthy retirement prospects, depending on whether they live in the more deprived or more affluent parts of England.

A report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows a clear north-south divide in estimates of life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy.

It means the impending increase in the state pension age will have different implications for the length of retirement which is spent disability-free for men and women, if living in Bradford and other parts of the North compared with the South.

The report reveals that men and women in the North not only experience shorter life expectancies, they also spend longer periods of time living with illness or disability than those in the South.

Males aged 16 in Blackpool can expect to live another 58.3 years, the lowest life expectancy in England. While 16-year-old males living in Kensington and Chelsea live a further 69 years, the highest in the country.

For women, life expectancy in England was lowest in Halton, with 16-year-olds living a further 63.7 years, with 16-year-olds in Kensington and Chelsea living a further 73.2 years, again the highest.

In the Bradford district 16-year-old boys can expect to live a further 61.3 years, with 45.7 of those years lived disability free. When men in Bradford reach 65 they can expect to live a further 17 years. For 16-year-old girls in Bradford, life expectancy is a further 65.3 years, with 46 of those years lived disability free life.

Life expectancy for women in Bradford who reach the age of 65 years, is to live a further 19.3 years.

The average life expectancy for England at the age of 16 is to live a further 62.8 years for men and a further 66.8 for women, with average disability free life expectancy for men 49.1 and for women 50.1.

Greg Fell, public health consultant at NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds, said: “We work very closely with the local authority to improve health and reduce health inequalities across the district and we have a strong focus on increasing access to health services for disadvantaged groups and tackling the early number of deaths from heart disease, stroke and cancer.

“Reducing smoking and harmful alcohol consumption, and improving diet and exercise are crucial to reducing levels of chronic disease and improving lives.

“Obesity and alcohol are the biggest health challenges we face.”

He said people could help themselves stay healthy by, for example, going to their GP with any symptoms or changes to their body that they cannot explain, or if they have a persistent cough for three weeks or more.

“In recent years we have seen a reduction in early deaths from cancer and circulatory disease,” he said.