People in south expected to live half a year less than rest of the country

Life expectancy for women is just under 83, with men at just over 77. 

People in the south of the country can currently expect to live around half a year less than their counterparts further north, official life expectancy rates from the EU show.

According to the latest figures from the European Commission's data analysis wing Eurostat, people living in the southern regions of Ireland had a life expectancy of just under 82 in 2021.

This is compared with around 82.5 in and around Dublin and the wider Leinster region, while those in Connacht and Donegal are expected to live just a sliver longer at 82.6. Ireland is outperforming the European average when it comes to living the longest, the data show.

Eurostat calculates life expectancy as the average number of years that a person can expect to live at birth if subjected to current mortality conditions throughout the rest of their life. In 2021, the life expectancy at birth in the EU was just over 80, falling from the previous two years with the pandemic looming.

Eurostat said: "In 2019, life expectancy at birth reached 81.3 years but then fell in 2020 to 80.4 (-0.9 years) and in 2021 decreased further (-0.3 years compared with 2020), probably as a result of the sudden increase in mortality because of the covid-19 pandemic," it said.

Women are far outpacing men when it comes to long lives, the data also shows. Life expectancy for women is just under 83, with men at just over 77. 

Spain, Sweden, and Italy are the fountains of long life in the bloc.

"At the country level, the highest life expectancy at birth was recorded in Spain (83.3 years), Sweden (83.1 years), Luxembourg and Italy (both 82.7 years), while the lowest was in Bulgaria (71.4 years), Romania (72.8 years) and Latvia (73.1 years)," Eurostat said.

Delving even deeper, citizens of Madrid, Navarre in the Basque region, and Finland's Aland Islands can expect to live well into their 80s currently.

👶👴 In 2021, the EU regions with the highest life expectancy at birth were:
🇪🇸Madrid (85.4 years)
🇪🇸Navarre (84.8 years)
🇫🇮 Åland Islands (84.6 years)

Lowest regions were in 🇧🇬Bulgaria: North-West (69.7), North-Central (70.4) and South-East (71.0)

👉https://t.co/9Y17Z9XGrN pic.twitter.com/ulXdY1kU6U

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) March 16, 2023

"The EU region with the highest life expectancy at birth was Madrid (85.4 years), followed by Navarre (84.8 years) and the Finnish region of Åland Islands (84.6 years). Castile and Leon in Spain and the Autonomous Province of Trento in northern Italy came next with 84.3 and 84.2 years, respectively, and then Stockholm (84.1 years) with another three Spanish regions: Cantabria and Basque Country (both 84.0 years) and Galicia (83.9 years)," Eurostat added.

In 2021, almost 5.3 million people died in the EU, compared with 5.18 million in 2020 and 4.65 million in 2019. 

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

"Life expectancy at birth has risen rapidly during the past century due to a number of factors. These include a reduction in infant mortality, rising living standards, improved lifestyles and better education, as well as advances in healthcare and medicine."

Since the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic however, life expectancy declined in 23 of 27 EU member states, the exceptions being Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Cyprus, Eurostat added.

The infant mortality rate has almost halved in the EU over the past 20 years.

"One of the most significant changes which has led to an increase in life expectancy at birth has been the decrease in infant mortality rates. Between 2011 and 2021, the infant mortality rate in the EU fell from 3.8 deaths per 1,000 live births to 3.2 deaths per 1,000 live births," Eurostat said.