In 2020, the life expectancy at birth declined for the first time in years in 23 of 27 Member States as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the European statistics office Eurostat.
In the past century, a number of factors, including a drop in infant mortality, rising living standards, advancements in healthcare and better education, have seen life expectancy rise rapidly. But in 2020, things went in the other direction.
"Life expectancy at birth in the EU was estimated at 80.4 years in 2020 (0.9 years lower than in 2019), reaching 83.2 years for women (0.8 lower than in 2019) and 77.5 years for men (1 year lower than in 2019)," a Eurostat report read.
Life expectancy at birth in the EU between 2002 and 2020. Credit: Eurostat
The indicator declined in almost all EU Member States, with the exception of Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Cyprus. In Belgium, it decreased from 82.1 in 2019 to 80.8, making it one of nine EU countries where the measure decreased by more than one year.
The largest decreases in total life expectancy at birth of the entire population were recorded in Spain (-1.6 compared with 2019) followed by Bulgaria and Poland (both -1.5), and then Lithuania and Romania (both -1.4).
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Overall this measure, which indicates the number of years that a person can expect to live at birth if subjected to current mortality conditions throughout the rest of their life, has risen by more than two years per decade on average since the 1960s.
Both the life expectancy at birth and at 65 are highest in Mediterranean countries, including Southern France and North of Spain, as well as Greece and Italy, while life expectancy for women was still higher than life expectancy for men, with a gender gap of 5.6 years in 2020.
Deaths and births
In 2020, almost 5.2 million people died in the EU, compared with 4.65 million in 2019, an increase driven largely by the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, around 13,250 children died before reaching one year of age in the EU in 2020, 849 less than in the previous year. The decrease in infant mortality rates has been one of the most significant changes which led to an increase in life expectancy at birth, according to Eurostat.
"Between 2009 and 2020, the infant mortality rate in the EU fell from 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births to 3.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. When extending the analysis to the last 20 years, the infant mortality rate has almost halved (6.2 deaths per 1 000 in 1999)."
In 2020, the highest infant mortality rates in the EU were registered in Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, while the lowest were recorded in Estonia and Finland.
