Life expectancy: Where in Europe do people live the shortest and the longest?

Life expectancy estimates are a critical tool to keep track of society's well-being, but for policymakers, the trends are also fundamental to developing government policies.

France, for example, is grappling with the challenge of a longer-living population and the resulting strain on the social security system. 

To address the challenge, the French government recently passed - with much resistance - a series of reforms aimed at increasing the retirement age and encouraging individuals to work longer.

But France is not alone with its ageing population, and they are not the ones living the longest. All across the EU, the life expectancy metric has been on an upward trajectory for several decades.

In 2021, the average life expectancy at birth in the EU was 80.1 years, but the latest figures are relatively lower when compared to 2020 and 2019, probably as a result of the sudden increase in mortality because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

In 2019, life expectancy at birth reached an all-time high of 81.3 years but it then fell to 80.4 in 2020.

Despite the slight setback - from which we are likely to recover soon - the longevity line has been trending upward since the EU began recording data in the early 2000s, and official statistics reveal that life expectancy has risen, on average, by more than two years per decade since the 1960s.

Overall, across the bloc, women live longer than men (82.9 years vs 77.2 years in 2021), but people in certain countries - and even regions - live longer than others.

Likewise, not all nations have experienced the same progress across the years - or relapse in some particular cases - in their life expectancy estimates.

The country with the