Heart disease and stroke are the biggest killers of men but more women die from cancer, new figures show.

The report revealed Scotland has more deaths from both these diseases than anywhere else in the UK.

Heart and circulatory disease — which also includes disease caused by high blood pressure — is responsible for 231 deaths per 100,000 men across the UK, but 267 per 100,000 in Scotland. Cancer among women results in 159 deaths per 100,000 population across the UK, but 181 per 100,000 in Scotland, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, which includes 2010.

Comparing health in the UK with the European Union, life expectancy for men in 2008 was 77.4 years — more than a year higher than the EU average of 76.1 years.

But deaths from respiratory diseases (including flu, pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory disease, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma) are higher in the UK than in any other EU country.

In the UK there are 87.7 deaths per 100,000 men and 64 per 100,000 women from respiratory diseases, compared to an EU average of 63.4 and 32.5.