Men are at greater risk of death from heart disease and stroke but women are more likely to die from cancer, according to new figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data also showed that Scotland has more deaths from both these diseases than anywhere else in the UK.
It was also revealed that Scotland has a higher ratio of GPs working in the country – eight per 10,000 – than any other part of the UK. Wales and Northern Ireland were found to have 6.5 and England has seven.
Some 231 men per 100,000 across the UK die from heart and circulatory disease – which also includes disease caused by high blood pressure. But 267 deaths per 100,000 occur in Scotland.
Cancer among women results in 159 deaths per 100,000 population across the UK, but 181 per 100,000 in Scotland, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, which includes 2010.
Comparing health in the UK with the European Union, life expectancy for men in 2008 was 77.4 years – more than a year higher than the EU average of 76.1 years.
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“If the Scots drink more alcohol than the rest of the UK this could prove to be the reason for the high death rate in Scotland from cancer, hypertension and heart and circulatory disease” – Rashid, London
