Despite average rates of obesity and smoking, their life expectancy outpaces the national mean by a year.

NEWYORKER: Letting Go

It is impossible, for example, to demonstrate a link between health-care delivery and life expectancy, because factors such as diet, exercise and smoking are much more important than the number of costly gadgets in hospitals.

ECONOMIST: Your money or your life

The report also considered the health of the borough as a whole and found Walsall had several factors influencing high death rates, including poor life expectancy, high levels of deprivation, sexually transmitted infections and smoking, and historically low education levels.

BBC: Walsall Manor Hospital improves poor death rates

And while smoking is hardly the only reason--low income nations have many variables affecting life expectancy--the habit has always been picked up most heavily by the less well-to-do, exacerbating the health and earning problems even more.

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Dr Bridgman said the profile showed an improvement in the life expectancy of islanders compared with figures for 1995-1997, and that the prevalence of smoking had halved over the last 40 years.

BBC: Guernsey health profile released