Life expectancy for women remains higher than for men in Europe

Women had a higher life expectancy compared to men in all EU regions in 2022 according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday.

Life expectancy at birth for women was highest in the Spanish capital region of Comunidad de Madrid (87.7 years), while two other Spanish regions, Comunidad Foral de Navarra (86.9 years) and Castilla y León (86.7 years), had the second and third highest values.

The lowest life expectancy at birth for women was recorded in the French outmost region of Mayotte (74.4 years), followed by three Bulgarian regions: Severozapaden (76.4 years), Severen tsentralen (77.0 years) and Yugoiztochen (77.6 years).

As was the case for women, the highest level of life expectancy at birth for men was recorded in the Spanish capital region of Comunidad de Madrid with 82.4 years. The northern Italian region of Provincia Autonoma di Trento and the Swedish capital region of Stockholm (both 82.3 years) had the next highest levels.

By contrast, three regions had a life expectancy for men of less than 70.0 years. The lowest levels were recorded in the Bulgarian region of Severozapaden (68.7 years), followed by Latvia (69.4 years) and Severen tsentralen (69.6 years), also in Bulgaria.

The largest regional gender gaps were recorded in the Baltic countries and several Polish and Romanian regions. The biggest gap was recorded in Latvia, where life expectancy at birth for women was 10.0 years higher than for men.

Differences in life expectancy at birth between women and men were generally much smaller in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. However, the smallest gender gap was observed in Mayotte in France, where life expectancy at birth for women was 0.4 years higher than for men.