Skopje, 24 March 2023 (MIA) – In 2021, the life expectancy at birth in the EU was 80.1 years. In 2019, life expectancy at birth reached 81.3 years but then fell in 2020 to 80.4 (-0.9 years) and in 2021 decreased further (-0.3 years compared with 2020), probably as a result of the sudden increase in mortality because of the COVID-19 pandemic, show Eurostat data. 

Life expectancy at birth in North Macedonia fell from 74.4 years in 2020 to 73.2 years in 2021 (-1.2 years). This is a third consecutive decrease, after a peak of 76.7 years in 2018, then a fall to 76.6 years in 2019, and a further decrease to 74.4 years in 2020.  

Life expectancy for women - 82.9 years continued to be higher than for men - 77.2 years in the EU in 2021, same as in North Macedonia - 75.5 years for women and 71.1 years for men. 

Of the countries in the region, the lowest life expectancy was recorded in Bulgaria - 71.4 years, followed by Serbia with 72.8 years. Montenegro, Albania and Croatia recorded higher life expectancy than North Macedonia, with 73.8 years, 75.5 years and 76.7 years, respectively. 

Between 2002 (the first year for which life expectancy data became available for all EU members) and 2021, life expectancy at birth in the EU increased by 2.5 years, from 77.6 to 80.1 years; the increase was 2.0 years for women and 2.9 years for men.

At the country level, the highest life expectancy at birth was recorded in Spain (83.3 years), Sweden (83.1 years), Luxembourg and Italy (both 82.7 years), while the lowest was in Bulgaria (71.4 years), Romania (72.8 years) and Latvia (73.1 years). 

In 2021, the regions in the EU with the highest levels of life expectancy at birth were located in Spain, Italy and France. 

The EU region with the highest life expectancy at birth was Madrid (85.4 years), followed by Navarre (84.8 years) and the Finnish region of Åland Islands (84.6 years). Castile and Leon and the Autonomous Province of Trento came next with 84.3 and 84.2 years, respectively, and then Stockholm (84.1 years) with another three Spanish regions: Cantabria and Basque Country (both 84.0 years) and Galicia (83.9 years). The top 10 also includes Île-de-France and Rhône-Alpes in France and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano in Italy, all with 83.8 years. 

On the other hand, the EU regions with the lowest life expectancy at birth were all in Bulgaria: North-West (69.7), North-Central (70.4), South-East (71.0) and North-East (71.2). These regions were followed by Mayotte (71.5) in France, North-East (72.0) and South-East (72.1) in Romania, North Hungary (72.1) and the Bulgarian regions of South-West (72.1) and South-Central (72.2).  

Photo: MIA archive/Eurostat