site.btaEurostat: EU Life Expectancy at 81.5 Years in 2023, Lowest in Bulgaria at 75.8 Years

Bulgaria remains the EU country with the lowest life expectancy at birth in the EU in 2023 at 75.8 years, compared to an EU average of 81.5 years, Eurostat reported here on Friday. 

Bulgaria, however, is among the countries where life expectancy has increased the most compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 with a rise of +0.7 years. 

According to preliminary data for 2023, the life expectancy at birth in the EU is 81.5 years, which is 0.9 years more than 
2022 and 0.2 years more than the level recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019. 

In 15 countries, the life expectancy exceeds the EU average, with the highest one registered in Spain (84.0 years), Italy (83.8 years) and Malta (83.6 years). 
 
The lowest life expectancy was recorded in Bulgaria (75.8 years), Latvia (75.9 years) and Romania (76.6 years).

When compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019, 18 EU countries experienced an increase in life expectancy in 2023, while 2 countries remained stable, and 6 saw a decrease. The largest increase has been estimated in Romania (+1.0 year), followed by Lithuania (+0.8 years), Bulgaria, Czechia, Luxembourg and Malta (all with a rise of +0.7 years).  

Conversely, Austria and Finland recorded the largest decreases (-0.4 years each), followed by Estonia and the Netherlands (-0.2 years), Eurostat reported.