Press Release 20/08/2013

The life expectancy of Basque women, 86.1 years, is the highest in the EU-27

The life expectancy for men stands at 79.3 years, almost 7 years below that for women

One of the most relevant demographic indicators is that which refers to the life expectancy of the population. According to Eustat and Eurostat data, the large increase in this indicator that has occurred in the Basque Country in little over a decade stands out, given that the life expectancy of the Basque population in the year 2000 stood at 75.8 for men and 83.8 for women, and in the year 2011 it stood at 79.3 and 86.1, respectively. This last figure is the highest for any country in the EU-27. In Spain the figures were 79.4 for men and 85.4 for women for the same year.

In relation to the rest of the EU-27, in the life expectancy ranking Basque women are followed by those from France, with 85.7, Spain (85.4), Italy (85.3), Portugal (84) Austria (83.9) and Sweden and Finland (both with 83.8) amongst the countries that occupy the highest positions. On the other hand, the lowest life expectancies were registered in Bulgaria (77.8), Romania (78.2), Hungary (78.7), Latvia (78.78) and Lithuania (79.3).

In the case of men in the EU-27, it was the Italians that lived the longest, 80.1 years, followed by the Swedish (79.9), Dutch and Spanish (both 79.4), Cypriots (79.3) and British (79.1). Males in Lithuania occupied the bottom of the list due to having the lowest life expectancy, 68.1 years, below Latvia (68.6), Bulgaria (70.7) and Romania (71).

Croatia has been incorporated in the EU from the 1st of June this year, but there are no data available yet to make comparisons.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62 Further press releases on the Basque Country in the EU-27