LIFE expectancy is getting shorter in Herefordshire, according to new data from the Office of National Statistics.

Girls born in the area between 2014 and 2016 can now expect to live for 83.6 years, down from 83.9 years in the previous two-year period.

Researchers predict baby boys born after 2014 will live for 80.1 years, which is also a decrease from 80.4 in the last survey.

People have been living longer since the turn of the century. Girls born between 2001 and 2003 in Herefordshire are predicted to live for 82.4 years, while the rate for boys is 77.1 years.

However, improvement in life expectancy is generally beginning to plateau.

Baby boys born in the UK are now predicted to live to be 79.2 years old on average, rising to 83.1 years for girls. National rates have remained largely unchanged since life expectancy was last assessed in 2013-2015.

Men will live longest in Kensington and Chelsea, according to the data, at 83.7 years - more than a decade longer than men in Glasgow, who are expected to die at 73.4 years of age.

For women, the top spot also goes to an affluent London borough, Camden, where women born after 2014 should live for 86.8 years. The lowest is West Dunbartonshire, where the figure drops to 78.8 years.

In recent decades, women have generally lived longer than men due to a range of lifestyle factors. Historically, men tended to smoke and drink more heavily than women, and are more prone to developing heart disease in later life.

However, this gap is narrowing as men are smoking and drinking less than previous generations.

The decline of heavy industry jobs and improvements in heart disease treatment has also produced significant improvements in male mortality.

Women are still expected to live 3.5 years longer than men in Herefordshire - but the gap is narrowing, down from 5.3 years in 2001-2003.

"This analysis supports the view that mortality improvements in the UK have slowed somewhat in the second decade of the 21st century", said Chris White, principal research officer at the ONS.

Researchers look at the ages people die and the projected death rates in each area to calculate the general life expectancy.