Death rates in England and Wales are at their lowest-ever recorded levels, official figures show.
Despite health concerns surrounding rising levels of obesity and alcohol use, death rates for both men and women fell by about 5% in 2009 from 2008.
There were under half a million deaths registered - the last time the figure fell this low was in the mid-1950s, when the population was 10m smaller.
Deaths from heart disease and cancer have fallen sharply in the last decade.
Between 1999 and 2009, death rates fell by more than a quarter for men and over a fifth for women, according to the figures from the Office of National Statistics, which said they were now at their lowest since records began in 1841.
Read more at BBC Health.
Tags: Public health
