Cancer causes three in ten deaths

Cancer accounted for almost one in three deaths last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Of all of the deaths registered in England and Wales, 30% were attributable to cancer.

Circulatory diseases including heart attacks and strokes accounted for 29% of deaths, while respiratory diseases including pneumonia were responsible for 14%.

Coronary heart disease was the biggest killer for men and women, with almost 65,000 deaths.

The second leading cause of mortality in women was dementia and Alzheimer's disease - accounting for 10.3% of female deaths.

Lung cancer was the second leading cause of death in men.

In 2011, 484,367 people died - a fall of 1.8% on the previous year when 493,242 deaths were registered.

The ONS said it was the third year in a row that annual death registrations were below half a million.

The report said: "Mortality rates are generally falling; reasons for this include medical advances in the treatment of many illnesses and diseases."