Men and women in Lewisham are living longer than ever before, according to new life expectancy data from the Office of National Statistics.

Girls born in the area between 2014 and 2016 can now expect to live for 83.3 years, up from 83.1 in the previous two year period. For boys, the figure is 79.1 years, which is also up from 78.8 in the last survey.

People have been living longer since the turn of the century. Girls born between 2001 and 2003 in Lewisham are predicted to live for 79.1 years, while the rate for boys is 74.5 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 4.2 years longer than men in Lewisham - but the gap is narrowing, down from 4.6 years in 2001-2003.