UK deaths on par with Albania

PREMATURE death rates among women in Britain are on a par with those in Slovenia and Albania, a study has shown.

Figures for the UK, published in the Lancet medical journal, were 58 women and 93 men per 1,000.

Mortality for both sexes in Britain had almost halved since 1970. However, British women are not much better off than those in Slovenia and Albania, whose death rates are 56 and 62 per 1,000 respectively.

In western Europe, only Danish and Belgian women were more likely to die before 60 than British women.