Big disparities in the health and behaviour of people in different parts of England are revealed for the first time today in research from the Association of Public Health Observatories.

The research reveals some remarkable findings, among them the fact that women in Blackpool are eight times more likely to smoke during pregnancy than their counterparts in Richmond upon Thames, west London, while the average five-year-old in Blackburn arrives at school with more than seven times as much tooth decay as contemporaries in Lichfield, Staffordshire. The teenage pregnancy rate in Lambeth, south London, is more than six times that in Rutland. And the obesity rate among children starting school in Hackney, east London, is three times the rate in Teesdale.

Data on more than 30 key indicators which reveals a picture of the unequal state of the country's health has been published so that health workers in every area can try to prevent the particular health problems of their local population. One of the chief concerns is that people in deprived areas do not eat well or exercise enough or go to the GP when they should.

The government has pledged to try to eradicate health inequalities and, earlier this month, laid out plans including a greater focus on parenting and children's early years. But public health experts say that too little is being done, with too few funds made available.

"Health inequalities appear to be getting worse in many respects, not better, despite quite a number of cross-cutting governmental reports and reviews," said Tim Crayford, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health. Health inequalities were part of a broader inequity, Crayford said, "arising through social differences, especially during people's upbringing. We need to be looking at tax regimes and particularly children born into poverty."

The government was going to miss its target of eradicating child poverty, he said. "It comes down to an election issue - the degree of inequality that the British electorate is prepared to permit."

Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said sustainable, long-term funding was needed. "Once we known things work, we should pile in the resources big-time, rather than pussyfooting around with short-term projects," he said. "We need sustainable, well-resourced projects over a long time period. Habits are passed on through generations."

But the data suggests differences in people's behaviour cannot be explained entirely by relative poverty. While Lambeth has the worst teenage pregnancy problem in England, it also has the best figures for breastfeeding, which not only provides babies with immunity from infections but also protects them from obesity in later life. The observatories found over 90% of mothers breast-feed in Lambeth, compared with 33% in Knowsley, Merseyside.

In Malvern Hills, West Devon and South Shropshire, almost all children of school age are provided with at least two hours a week of high-quality PE and school sport, compared with only two-thirds of children in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Surrey Heath and Burnley.

It was already established that people in more prosperous areas are more likely to live longer. Men in Kensington and Chelsea, west London, have an average life expectancy of 83, 10 years more than in Manchester.

Women in Kensington and Chelsea can expect to live beyond 87, nearly nine years longer than the average for women in Liverpool.

The figures showed Kensington and Chelsea had the lowest rate of premature death from cancer and the highest proportion of people eating more than five portions of fruit or vegetables every day.

But the borough was in the bottom 10 in England for problem drug use among people aged 15 to 64.

Maryon-Davis said Lambeth's example showed how the inequalities caused by deprivation could be overcome. "The main maternity setting is St Thomas' hospital, where the midwives have had a particularly strong drive on breastfeeding," he said. "Even if you have got a lot of deprivation, if you have a mind to do it and put the effort in and train your staff, you can achieve great things."

Liz Gaulton, deputy director of public health in Knowsley, said it had the highest death rate from smoking and the lowest rate of breastfeeding. "To some extent there is a social inevitability about poor health outcomes. Results are better in the more affluent areas. But that does not mean we can be complacent," she said.

"Knowsley has responded to the high level of smoking deaths by pushing hard on smoking cessation. Last year we had the highest percentage of adult quitters in England. There is evidence that we are turning the tide, regardless of deprivation."

Increasing the breastfeeding rate was harder. The borough had a high proportion of young white women with low educational attainment, who were the hardest to persuade of the benefits of breast-feeding. "We have families in which three generations of mothers never breastfed. It is an uphill struggle, but we are using social marketing techniques to try to make a difference," she added.