Women in Belgium live longer than men, statistically. However, the gap in life expectancy between the two is narrowing and the average life expectancy of someone born in 2023 is now 82.3.
The Belgian life expectancy at birth in 2023 was up 215 days (0.6 years) on 2022. Over the past two decades, life expectancy in Belgium has gone up by more than six years, an analysis by Belgium's statistics office Statbel showed.
At 84.3 years, women's life expectancy remains slightly higher than men (80.18 years). Female life expectancy has risen 230 days since 2022; for men it went up 190 days.
But the gender gap is narrowing, Statbel's spokesperson Wendy Schelfaut said. "The gap in life expectancy between men and women has decreased. In 2023, the difference was 4.12 years; in 1997, it was 6.42 years. The gap between men and women in 2023 is the smallest since the series began in 1997."
Surpassing pre-Covid levels
The latest figures show that life expectancy climbed to slightly above levels observed just before the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw average life expectancy for Belgium fall from 81.8 to 80.8 between 2019 and 2020.
Life expectancy rose to 81.7 in 2021 and 2022 and in 2021 the age gap reached 4.8 years. But overall life expectancy has now fully recovered to even surpass pre-pandemic levels.
People born in Flanders are still projected to live the longest of all Belgian regions: life expectancy at birth in 2023 in the Flemish Region was 83.2 years. Meanwhile, in the Brussels-Capital Region life expectancy was 82.2 years – up from 80 in 2010. People born in Wallonia are projected to lead the shortest lives, with a life expectancy of 80.6 years in 2023.
But Belgium's French-speaking region did see the greatest improvements: +226 days (0.62 years ) compared to 2022. It was closely followed by Brussels with an increase of 219 days. Flanders recorded a slightly smaller rise (+0.55 years or 201 days).
When comparing life expectancy at birth in 2023 with that of 2019, the largest increase was recorded in Brussels (0.59 years or 215 days), followed by Flanders (0.47 years or 172 days) and Wallonia (0.36 years or 131 days).
