Life expectancy in Europe has stopped growing and is stagnating after the pandemic - study

Life expectancy may have decreased across Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic, but gains in life expectancy had been declining for almost a decade before that.

Reported by UNN with reference to The Lancet Public Health and Euronews.

Details

A report published in The Lancet Public Health shows that improvements in life expectancy in Europe have slowed since 2011.

The study was based on 20 countries and covers Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, as well as the United Kingdom countries - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

According to the analysis, the increase in life expectancy slowed to 0.15 years (1.8 months) of annual increase in life expectancy between 2011 and 2019.

Key factors that caused the growth in life expectancy in Europe to practically stop are: smoking, overeating and excessive alcohol consumption, and accordingly, blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, as well as a lack of movement in the daily lives of many residents of the region.

The greatest stagnation in terms of life expectancy after 2011 was observed in Great Britain and Germany.

The situation is different in Norway - in this country, a policy of sugar reduction is implemented at the state level. Norway remained the only country where life expectancy continued to increase until the pandemic.

Also, according to the report, Spain remains one of the countries with the highest life expectancy in Europe. In this country, in 2021, the average figure reached 83.24 years, however, the trend has changed somewhat, growth has slowed down and in recent years has shown signs of reversal.

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

Between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy decreased in most of the analyzed countries, mainly due to respiratory infections and other consequences of the pandemic.

It is noted that people in Scandinavian countries, Ireland, and Belgium were better prepared to combat the pandemic.

In different countries, national policies aimed at improving public health have been associated with better resilience to future shocks

How to influence the trend and increase life expectancy in European countries

According to the authors of the study, public policy can be aimed at reducing health risk factors by promoting healthy eating, physical exercise, and ensuring access to medical care.

Other studies have shown that greater public investment in education and services for people with disabilities corresponds to longer life expectancy, as well as higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Scientists have found that life expectancy is slowing down in the world08.10.24, 18:19 • 16969 views