BABIES born in Buckinghamshire can expect to live longer than the national average, with life expectancy rising by at least two years for county residents in the last decade.

A report into the wellbeing of Bucks residents shows girls born in Bucks now can expect to live to 84 years old, higher than the 82.6 England average, while for boys it is 80.5 compared to 78.6 nationally.

Life expectancy in Buckinghamshire increased by 2.5 years for males and 2.1 years for females between 2001-03 and 2008-10, the newly released document stated, in line with national improvements.

The data also demonstrated that 13.4 per cent reported having a long term limiting illness at the time of the Bucks census 2011. This had increased from 2001, when the figure stood at 12.8 per cent .

But the latest number is lower than the national average (17.6 per cent).

The study also shows the main causes of death in Bucks as diseases of the circulatory system such as strokes or heart attacks at 31 per cent and cancers at 30 per cent. A third of male deaths were due to cancers, compared to 27 per cent of female deaths.

Cancers caused 44 per cent of premature deaths.

The death rate from cancer fell between 2001-03 and 2009-11. The all age death rate for Buckinghamshire fell by a tenth over this period and the premature death rate fell by 13%.

There were 3,793 deaths in Buckinghamshire in 2011, with almost a third of these deaths (32%) among people aged under 75 (known as premature deaths).

Piers Simey, Consultant in Public Health at Buckinghamshire County Council, who authored the report said: "In Buckinghamshire, the all age death rate during 2008-2010 was 15 per cent lower than the national average, while the premature death rate was 21 per cent lower. People living in Chiltern, Wycombe, South Bucks and Aylesbury Vale districts have all age death rates that are 18 per cent, 16 per cent, 17 per cent and 10 per cent lower than the average for England."

Meanwhile, analysis of the 2011 census showed the number of people from non-white ethnic groups in Bucks increased by 82 per cent between 2001 (37,691) and 2011 (68,600). The report said 13.6 per cent of the county's population were from a non-white ethnic background, increasing from 7.9 per cent in 2001. It added 86.4 per cent were from a white ethnic group in 2011, slightly higher than 85.4 per cent in England as a whole.

The research, part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, was compiled by Bucks County Council, the NHS and the district councils.