Higher life expectancy at birth for women in all EU regions

In 2022, life expectancy at birth in the EU for women (83.3 years) was 5.4 years higher than for men (77.9 years). This gender gap in favour of women persisted in all of the regions at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2) for which data are available.

Life expectancy at birth for women peaked 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). 

Madrid tops life expectancy at birth for both men and women

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, 3 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.

Large gender gaps in life expectancy at birth within regions

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.

For more information

• Statistics Explained article on population statistics at regional level
• Statistics Explained article on mortality and life expectancy
• Thematic section on population and demography
• Thematic section on regions and cities
• Database on regional statistics 
• Database on demography, population stock and balance
• Eurostat regional yearbook – 2024 edition
• Regions in Europe – 2024 edition
• Webinar on regional statistics

Methodological notes

• This article relies on the data from the Eurostat regional yearbook – note that some of the data may have been updated since its publication.

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