Best Med-icine: Spanish and Italian children can expect the longest lives

Newborn girls in Spanish, French, and Italian regions were expected to live longest, while newborn boys in Spanish, Italian, and Swedish regions were expected to live longest generally. Picture: Pexels

Children born in Spain and Italy are most likely to live the longest in the EU, while women can expect to live almost six years longer than men.

That is according to the latest figures from the European Commission's data analysis wing, Eurostat, which also found that the Covid-19 pandemic skewed life expectancy levels after a 19-year consecutive annual rise.

Life expectancy of a female newborn in the EU was 83.2 years, some 5.7 years higher than for a male newborn at 77.5 years in 2020, Eurostat said, adding that data shows that life expectancy is higher for women than for men in every single region of the EU.

The old adage about the healthy Mediterranean diet and Scandinavian social care may explain the long lives of the regions' citizens.

According to Eurostat's data, newborn girls in Spanish, French, and Italian regions were expected to live longest, while newborn boys in Spanish, Italian, and Swedish regions were expected to live longest generally.

Island living seems to do wonders for both men and women who wish to enjoy a long life.

Women in the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a French territory which retains much of Italian culture, may reasonably expect to live until the age of 87, while men in the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera could expect to reach almost 81.5, Eurostat said. Boys in Ipeiros in Greece and Umbria in Italy can also expect to live to around 81.5.

Impact of Covid-19

Covid-19 has had a discernable impact on life expectancy levels, the data shows.

The life expectancy of a newborn child in the EU increased 1.5 years between 2010 and 2019, Eurostat said.

"However, this gradual increase in life expectancy ended abruptly in 2020, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It had an immediate impact, as life expectancy fell between 2019 and 2020 from 81.3 years to 80.4 years, thereby losing most of the gains that had been achieved during the previous decade."

Most European regions were affected by Covid-19 when it comes to life expectancy, the agency said, with areas severely hit by the first wave of the pandemic significantly impacted.

This pattern of falling life expectancy between 2019 and 2020 was widespread: 86% of EU regions recorded a decline in life expectancy, 5% no change, and 9% an increase. The largest declines were often registered in regions that were severely impacted by the first wave of the pandemic, for example, Comunidad de Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha (both Spain), and Lombardy (Italy).

People in more remote and isolated areas were affected the least, the data shows.

"Those regions that were characterised by rising life expectancy between 2019 and 2020 were generally remote (often island) regions, where the impact of the pandemic may have been mitigated by travel restrictions that prevented people from leaving/arriving; for example, La Réunion (France), Crete, Continental Greece, and the South Aegean, and Madeira (Portugal)," Eurostat said.

In 2020, some 5.18 million people died in the EU, compared with 4.65 million the year before that.

Official statistics reveal that life expectancy has risen, on average, by more than two years per decade since the 1960s.

In 2020, the infant mortality rate in the EU has almost halved since 1999, down from 6.2 to 3.3 deaths per 1,000 live births.