Nearly a quarter of deaths in England and Wales are potentially avoidable, shocking new figures today reveal.

Between lifestyle changes and more effective healthcare, more than 100,000 lives could be saved each year - and the average person who dies early loses a staggering 23 years of life.

The figures show that avoidable death rates are highest in Wales and North East England.

The South East had the lowest.

In 2014, nearly a quarter of all deaths - 116,489 out of 501,424, or 23 per cent - in England and Wales were from causes considered potentially avoidable.

The table shows the number of deaths that were from avoidable causes - such as types of cancer and accidents - and those that were not in blue in England and Wales in 2014

Men accounted or around 60 per cent of these, the Office for National Statistics data shows.

Neoplasms - cancers and non-cancerous abnormal tissue growths - were the leading cause of avoidable deaths.

These accounted for 35 per cent of all avoidable deaths in England and Wales in 2014.

Meanwhile, almost a third - 1,443 out of 4,571, or 32 per cent - of all deaths of children and young people (aged 0 to 19 years) were from avoidable causes.

The highest number of avoidable deaths in children and young people in England and Wales in 2014 were from accidental injuries, which accounted for 14 per cent of the deaths in this age group.

Anne Campbell, from the Mortality Analysis Team at the ONS, said: 'People who die prematurely from avoidable causes lose an average of 23 potential years of life.

'For children and young people, this figure rises to 72 years. The biggest contributors to avoidable deaths are chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

Neoplasms - cancers and non-cancerous abnormal tissue growths - were the leading cause of avoidable deaths while cardiovascular disease caused 44% of all deaths from conditions amenable to healthcare

More men than women in England (blue) and Wales (orange) died from avoidable causes in 2014, table shows

'In contrast, accidental injuries and complications surrounding childbirth are the biggest killers of children and young people.'

In 2014, a man in the UK aged 65 could expect to live another 18.4 years on average to just over 83.

Woman typically would live for another 20.9 years to almost to 86 years, the latest official statistics show.

While certain types of cancer were the biggest cause of avoidable death overall, cardiovascular disease was the most common when it came to being treatable in a healthcare setting.

Ineffective healthcare was attributed to 62,156 deaths in 2014.

The figures also revealed there were 90,985 deaths from causes considered preventable through wider public health interventions in England and 6,206 deaths in Wales.

Those aged under 19 were most likely to succumb to an accident with childbirth, suicide and congenital heart problems all leading causes of avoidable deaths

People living in the North East of England were more likely to die from an avoidable cause with 279 per 100,000 patients dying compared to the national average of 221

Despite the smaller number of deaths in Wales, avoidable mortality rates were significantly higher than in England for both men and women at 300.4 per 100,000 population compared with 273.3 in England.

Similarly, rates for females were 183.6 per 100,000 in Wales compared with 167.6 in England.

Like with adults, boys were more likely than girls to die from avoidable causes.

Just under a third of deaths - 1,443 out of 4,571 - in children and young people aged 0 to 19 years in England and Wales were from causes considered avoidable both through better healthcare and wider public health interventions.

They accounted for one per cent of all such deaths in 2014.

But in stark contrast to older age groups where cancer and heart disease were the biggest killers, non-chronic conditions including accidental injuries, complications during childbirth, suicides and self-inflicted injuries and congenital malformations of the heart were the leading causes.