Life expectancy in the UK has improved in recent years, but there are still major gaps between the richest and poorest areas and the north and the south of the country.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that life expectancy at birth improved from 76.5 to 77.9 years for males between 2003-05 and 2007-09.
Over the same period, life expectancy for females increased from 80.9 to 82 years.
Kensington and Chelsea remains the area with the highest life expectancy at birth, while Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Hartlepool, the Western Isles, Liverpool and Blackburn recorded the lowest life expectancies.
According to the report, the gap between those areas with the highest and lowest life expectancies at birth increased from 9.8 to 11.3 years for males over the period, and from 8.2 to 10.1 years for females.
The ONS revealed: 'Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 in the UK is higher for females than males, and is generally higher in the south compared with the north.
'The results presented in this bulletin show that although life expectancy is improving, wide variations between areas persist and the gap between the areas with the highest and lowest life expectancy is increasing.'
Dr Simon Szreter, professor of history and public policy at Cambridge University, claimed that class and income are behind the north-south divide in life expectancy.
He said: 'Life expectancy has a long-standing correlation with social class and income.
'This north-south divide is explainable in terms of the lack of members of middle-class households in the north and the disproportionate concentration of them in the south.'