In 2020, the life expectancy at birth in the European Union was 80.4 years, decreasing slightly from 2019, while women continued to have a higher life expectancy than men, according to Eurostat.

Overall, the regions in the EU with the highest levels of life expectancy were located in France, Spain, Italy and Greece.

Also, life expectancy in 2020 was 5.7 years higher for women (83.2) than men (77.5).

The gap between the sexes was smaller in Cyprus since life expectancy was four years higher for women (84.4) than men (80.4).

Female life expectancy was higher than male life expectancy in most regions with available data.

Compared with 2019, life expectancy experienced a decrease (-0.9 years).

Men experienced a larger decrease in life expectancy (-1.0) than women (-0.8).

However, this reduction in life expectancy is related to the sudden increase in mortality in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU region with the highest life expectancy in 2020 was the French island of Corsica (84), followed by the Balearic Islands in Spain (83.9) and the Epirus region in Greece (83.8).

EU regions with the lowest life expectancy were all in Bulgaria: North-West (72.1), North-Central (72.8), and North and South-East Bulgaria (72.9).

Corsica also had the highest female life expectancy (87), followed by the Spanish region of Galicia (86.7).

Two French regions (Loire and Midi-Pyrénées), the Åland Islands in Finland and Epirus, recorded the same female life expectancy; 86.4 years.

The highest levels of male life expectancy were recorded in the Epirus region in Greece, the region of Umbria in central Italy and the Balearic Islands in Spain (all 81.4).

Source: Financial Mirror