Eurostat: Romania has third lowest life expectancy in EU, Spain ranks first
Spain is the country in the European Union (EU) with the highest life expectancy, at 84 years, and is above the Community average, which is 81.5 years, while Romania has the third lowest life expectancy from the EU, for 76.6 years, according to the latest data updated on Friday by the Community statistics agency Eurostat, quoted by EFE.
Romania is followed in this ranking only by Latvia, with 75.9 years and Bulgaria, with 75.8 years.
However, the largest increase in life expectancy from 2019 to 2023 was registered in Romania, the increase in life expectancy being one year, followed by Lithuania (+0.8 years) and Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Malta (all with an increase of +0.7 years).
At the opposite pole are Austria and Finland, which recorded the biggest decreases in life expectancy (minus 0.4 years each), followed by Estonia and the Netherlands (minus 0.2 years).
These are preliminary data collected at the end of 2023, according to which Spain has the highest life expectancy at birth in the entire European Union (84 years), followed closely by Italy (83.8 years) and Malta (83.6 years ).
In total, 15 of the 27 EU member states exceed the EU average for life expectancy (81.5 years).
In general, the countries with the lowest life expectancy are those in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, while the countries in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Central Europe have the highest life expectancy.
This is the life expectancy of all EU countries, ordered from highest to lowest: Spain (84 years), Italy (83.8 years), Malta (83.6), Sweden (83.4), Luxembourg (83.4), France (83.1), Belgium (82.5), Cyprus (82.5), Portugal (82.4), Netherlands (82), Slovenia (82), Denmark (81.9) , Finland (81.7), Greece (81.6), Austria (81.6), Germany (81.2), Czech Republic (80); Estonia (78.8), Croatia (78.8), Poland (78.6), Slovakia (78.1), Lithuania (77.3), Hungary (76.9), Romania (76.6), Latvia (75.9) and Bulgaria (75.8).
Comparing these data from 2023 with those from 2019, the reference year for establishing comparisons, being the last before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it follows that up to 18 EU countries increased their life expectancy, while Spain remained stable, at 84 years old.