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The 10 places in the UK with the most unnecessary deaths

The seafront at Blackpool as gusts of up to 80mph could hit parts of the UK as Storm Brendan sweeps in.
The seafront in Blackpool (PA)

Blackpool has topped a list of UK areas with the highest number of avoidable deaths.

The seaside resort suffered 401.8 avoidable deaths per 100,000 people between 2016 and 2018, according to avoidable mortality figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This compares to 385.8 per 100,000 in Manchester, which was the second highest rate, and 139.8 in South Oxfordshire, which was the lowest.

The 10 areas with the most avoidable deaths were as follows:

  1. Blackpool: 401.8

  2. Manchester: 385.8

  3. Middlesbrough: 379.7

  4. Liverpool: 354.8

  5. Kingston upon Hull: 352

  6. Knowsley: 344.5

  7. Burnley: 333.4

  8. Nottingham: 333.2

  9. Blackburn with Darwen: 331.6

  10. Rochdale: 331.5

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An avoidable death is defined as either preventable, through effective public health and prevention, or treatable, through effective healthcare.

There are 98 separate types of avoidable death, such as infectious diseases (for example measles), neoplasms (for example lung cancer) and injuries (for example transport accidents).

The ONS found 22% of all deaths (138,293 deaths out of 616,014) in the UK in 2018 were avoidable.

Of Britain’s four nations, Scotland had the highest avoidable mortality rate with 309.9 deaths per 100,000.