Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are higher in England than in the rest of the UK, but rates in Scotland and Wales are growing twice as fast, researchers said today.

The rate of gonorrhoea infections in men in England in 2004 was more than twice the rate for Scotland and Wales, and the rate for women in England was double that in Wales and four times that in Scotland, according to the National Statistics Office.

Northern Ireland had the lowest rates of gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, genital herpes and genital warts.

But the rate of STIs rose faster in Scotland and Wales than in England between 1994 and 2004, according to the study of the UK population's health. Over that decade, the rate of syphilis in men in England increased seven-fold to 7.1 per 100,000. In Scotland it increased thirteen-fold to reach 6.5 per 100,000 in Scotland.

Rates of gonorrhea remained constant in men and women in England between 1994 and 2004, but rose by 14% in men in Scotland and Wales.

Scotland has the largest proportion of heavy smokers in the UK, with 44.9% of men and 35.3% of women smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day. It also has the highest rate of lung cancer with 89.2 newly diagnosed cases per 1,000 men and 51.1 cases per 1,000 women between 2000 and 2002. This amounted to around 20 more cases per 1,000 in the UK as a whole for both men and women.

The study of the UK's health also found that Wales had the highest proportion of disabled people in 2003-04. More than a fifth (20.1%) of women aged 16-59 and men aged 16-64 reported they had a physical or mental disability, compared to 14.7% in England.

The report also compared the health of the UK population with that of other EU countries. The UK had the second highest proportion of obese adults (21.0%) in the EU. Greece had the highest proportion (21.9%) while Norway had the lowest (6.4%).

But men in England are living longer than in almost every other EU country, with an average life expectancy of 76.6 years in 2003 - the second highest in the union. The average male life expectancy in the EU as a whole was 74.8 years.

Women across the UK continue to live longer than men, with the highest life expectancy of 80.9 years in England. But their life expectancy is lower than the EU average for women, which was 81.1 years in 2003.