For men, the largest fall was observed in the North West (31.0 months), but in London there was a small improvement of 2.2 months. For women, all regions experienced a fall, ranging from 32.4 months in the South West to 0.7 months in London.

The ONS said all regions other than London had seen a fall in both male and female HLE at birth since 2011-13.

HLE in 2021-23 for men in England was 61.5 years compared with 60.3 in Wales. For women, HLE in England was 61.9 years in England and 59.6 in Wales.

Men aged 65 in England could expect to spend 10.1 years in good health compared with 9.8 years in Wales. For women it was 11.2 years in England and 10.4 years in Wales.

There was a 17.9 year difference in HLE between the highest and lowest ranked areas in Egland for men, up by 22% since 2011-13. For women, the gap was 18.2 years, up by 17.1% since 2011-13.

In Wales, the difference was smaller (11.0 years for men, 12.6 years for women) but these gaps increased by 13.3% and 16.5%, respectively.

In 2021 to 2023, in England, HLE at birth was highest in Wokingham (69.7 years for men, 70.8 years for women); it was lowest in Blackpool for males (51.7 years), and in Barnsley for females (52.6 years).

In Wales, HLE at birth in 2021 to 2023 was highest in Monmouthshire (65.9 years for both men and women) and lowest in Torfaen (54.9 years and 53.3 years, respectively).

Among the regions of England, the highest male HLE at birth was observed in London (63.9 years), 7.0 years higher than in the North East (56.9 years). For women, the highest HLE at birth was observed in the South East (64.4 years), 6.9 years more than in the North East (57.5 years).

Veena Raleigh, senior fellow, The King's Fund, said: ‘While this data reflects the impact of the pandemic, both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in England were stalling before Covid-19 struck. There has now been a prolonged period during which the health of England's population has not just failed to improve, it has deteriorated.

‘This shows how challenging it will be for the government to achieve its ambition of halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions in England. Poor health is also a serious impediment to economic growth, with an estimated 2.8m people unable to work due to ill health.

 ‘Turning this ship around will require concerted cross-Government action and investment to improve population health and tackle the socio-economic factors driving health inequalities that scar the nation and blight the lives of individuals, families and communities.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘We are lagging behind our European neighbours in many areas of public health and the situation will not improve without radical action on all fronts. Our 10-Year Health Plan will shift the focus of healthcare from sickness to prevention.

‘We've already made a strong start by restricting junk food advertising on TV and online, and limiting school children's access to fast food, while the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will tackle our biggest killer and put us on track to a smoke-free UK.'