Women can expect to spend nearly a quarter of their lives in poor health and men a fifth, a Public Health England (PHE) report shows.
Life expectancy for a female in England has now reached 83.1 - but figures reveal 19.1 of these years will be taken up by poor health - around 23%.
Meanwhile, men who can now live on average to the age of 79.5 will spend 16.1 years in poor health, equating to around 20% of their life.
The report from PHE called the Health Profile for England also highlights that low back and neck pain has become the biggest cause of ill health across nearly all ages and both genders.
It also notes that a flu pandemic is the "most significant civil risk facing the UK", with a 5% to 50% probability of an outbreak occurring in the next five years.
PHE director of health improvement, John Newton, said that "although men and women are spending more years in ill health", people are also "spending more years in good health".
"Women still live longer than men, but the gap has closed over time to just 3.6 years," he said.
"However, most of the extra time women have over men in terms of life expectancy is taken up by years spent in poor health."
The report draws together existing data and covers issues such as life expectancy, major causes of death, morbidity trends and inequality in health.
It highlights that people living in the most deprived areas in England have, on average, the lowest life expectancy, while those living in areas with lower deprivation have a higher life expectancy, on average.
"Males living in the most deprived tenth of areas can expect to live nine fewer years compared with the least deprived tenth, and females can expect to live seven years fewer," it adds.
The report also indicates how men and women in the most deprived areas can also expect to spend 20 years fewer in good health compared with those living in the least deprived areas.
Professor Newton said: "For both men and women, almost half the population live in areas where healthy life expectancy is slightly less than the current state pension.
"It is a slightly larger proportion of men than women ... (but) a significant proportion of our population cannot expect to live in their pension age in good health."
PHE said it hopes the report will be used by policymakers to assess the impact of decisions on health, and also locally to see how they compare with the national picture.
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, said: "Good public health is not defined by health policy alone.
"Our health profiles show a high-quality education, a well-designed and warm home, a good job and a community to belong to are just as important.
"The more we consider the impact of all policies on population health, the sooner we can focus on preventing poor health instead of only dealing with its consequences, especially for those from the most deprived communities."
Responding to the report, Izzi Seccombe, health spokeswoman for the Local Government Association, said it shows how deprivation can lead to long-term ill health and premature death.
"We know that those living in the most deprived communities experience poorer mental health, higher rates of smoking and greater levels of obesity than the more affluent," she said.
"They spend more years in ill health and they die sooner. Reducing health inequalities is an economic and social challenge as well as a moral one."
She said central Government has to play its part in reducing poverty and breaking the link between deprivation, ill health and lower life expectancy.
Further findings within the report show that since 2001 death rates from heart disease and stroke have halved for both males and females.
It also notes that over the same period, deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's have increased by 60% in males and more than doubled in females.
"This partly reflects the fact that the population is ageing and that more than two-thirds of deaths now occur among those aged 75 and over, but also an increased awareness of dementia," it adds.
In 2015, heart disease was still the biggest killer of men - responsible for 14.2% of deaths - and the second biggest for women at 8.8%, with dementia and Alzheimer's the biggest killer of females at 15.3%.
The same year cancer as a whole accounted for 30% of deaths in men and 24.8% in women.
Using data from 2013 the report highlights how the behavioural risk factors estimated to account for the highest proportion of deaths in England were diet and tobacco smoke.
A Government spokesman said it is taking a "comprehensive approach" to address health inequalities.
The spokesman said it is investing more than £16 billion in local government public health services over the current spending period to tackle lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity rates which contribute to poor health.