The latest life expectancy figures have been revealed.

According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Ipswich has the lowest life expectancy age compared with Babergh and Mid Suffolk areas.

During the period 2020-2022, men in Ipswich had a life expectancy of 78.94, and women 82.76.

For the same period in the rest of Suffolk, male life expectancy was 81.44 in Babergh and 81.05 in Mid Suffolk.

For women, it was 84.59 in Babergh and 84.63 in Mid Suffolk.

This is a difference of around two years between Ipswich and other areas in Suffolk, with men living longer in the Babergh area in south Suffolk, which includes Hadleigh and Sudbury and surrounding villages.

Women are living slightly longer in Mid Suffolk, which includes Stowmarket, Needham Market and Eye.

The figures also showed a drop in life expectancy over the last few years.

Female life expectancy in Ipswich has dropped below 83 for the first time in 12 years, since the period between 2009 and 2011, and male life expectancy has dropped below 79 for the first time in nine years, since 2013 to 2015.

This has been a national shift. For the whole of England, life expectancy is 78.85 for men, which has dropped below 79 for the first time since 2009 to 2011, and 82.82 for women, which has been slowly declining since the period from 2019 and 2021.

The Star recently reported that Ipswich had one of the highest levels of the worst kind of poverty in the UK.

According to the ‘Destitution in the UK’ report, released in October from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity, Ipswich was in the top quarter of local authorities affected by destitution, the most severe form of hardship, in 2022.

Destitution is defined as when most basic needs are not being met, such as staying dry, warm, clean, and fed, which has a “deep and profound impacts on people’s health, mental health and prospects”.

Tara Spence, CEO of the Home-Start Suffolk charity, which supports the welfare of families, said the placement of the town in the report is linked to the "relatively young age demographic", with a high number of births, and the financial challenges families face.