Life expectancy data reveals that people are living longer in Europe on average, but major differences in gender and geography remain.
Life expectancy in the EU continues to increase, reaching 81.5 years in 2024, 0.1 years more than the previous year and higher than in 2019, the year before the pandemic (81.3).
As a reference, at the height of COVID-19, in 2021, the expectation of life had declined to 80.1 years across EU countries.
There are major differences between the longevity of women and men, however. On average, women’s life expectancy reached 84.1 years in 2024, 5.2 years more than men, according to the latest data published by the EU statistical office, Eurostat.
Longer life in Switzerland and Spain
On a country level, people live longer in Spain, where life expectancy in 2024 was 84 years, although in Switzerland – which is not in the EU – it was even higher, at 84.2 years.
Among countries where life tends to be longer than the EU average there are Sweden (83.8), Italy (83.7), Norway (83.2), France (83), Austria (82.1), and Denmark (82). In Germany, the expectation of life is just lower than the EU’s (81.2).
At the regional level, people can expect a longer life in four regions: Madrid in Spain (85.7), the provinces of Trento and Bolzano in Italy, and the Swedish capital region of Stockholm (all at 85).
The lowest life expectancy, instead, was recorded in three Bulgarian regions (between 73.9 and 75.4 years), France’s overseas department of Mayotte (74.5) and Hungary’s Észak-Magyarország (75.1).
Advertisement
Gender differences
Women in Europe tend to live longer than men, with an average expectation of 84.1 years compared to 78.9 years – a difference of 5.2 years.
The expectation of life in 2024 increased however more for men (+0.2 years) than women (+0.1 years) over 2023.
The smallest gender gaps were in the Netherlands (2.8 years), Sweden (3.1 years) and Ireland (3.4 years). In Sweden, life expectancy for women was 85.3 years and for men 82.3.
The difference was below 4 years also in Denmark (women 83.9 years and men 80.2) and Norway (women 84.8 and men 81.6).
Spanish women have the highest life expectation in Europe, at 86.5 years, compared to 81.4 of Spanish men.
In Switzerland, France and Italy, women’s expectation of life is also above 85 (85.9, 85.8 and 85.7), which compares to 82.4, 80.2 and 81.6 respectively for their male counterparts.
In Austria women’s life expectation is on average 84.3 years and men’s 79.8, while in Germany it is 83.5 and 78.9 years respectively.
The largest difference between women and men was recorded in Latvia (9.8 years), Lithuania (8.6 years) and Estonia (8.4 years).
