Life expectancy in Europe rises to 81.5 years: Italy second after Spain

Life expectancy at birth continues to rise in the European Union, with Italy coming second, a whisker behind Spain. According to preliminary Eurostat data for 2023, life expectancy at birth in the EU is 81.5 years, up 0.9 years from 2022 and 0.2 years from the pre-pandemic level of 2019. The EU's figure is significantly higher, by more than 5 years, than the average life expectancy at birth in the US, which is 76.4 years (source: Cdc Atlanta). In 15 countries, life expectancy exceeded the EU average: the highest are in Spain (84 years), Italy (83.8 years) and Malta (83.6 years). In contrast, the lowest life expectancy was recorded for Bulgaria (75.8 years), Latvia (75.9) and Romania (76.6).

The lower average life expectancy in the US compared to the EU has been explained by citing a long list of factors, including the high obesity rates in the US population and the related health problems, the high number of deaths from synthetic opioid overdoses, and the very expensive but inefficient healthcare system.

Compared to the pre-pandemic level of 2019, Eurostat continues, 18 EU countries recorded an increase in life expectancy in 2023, while 2 countries remained stable and 6 recorded a decrease. The largest increase was estimated in Romania (+1.0 year), followed by Lithuania (+0.8 years), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Malta (all +0.7 years). In contrast, Austria and Finland recorded the largest decreases (-0.4 years each), followed by Estonia and the Netherlands (-0.2 years).