Most EU countries recorded a decline in average life expectancy, in Austria it fell by 0.7 years compared to 2019 (from 82.0 to 81.3 years), as the EU statistics office Eurostat announced on Wednesday. The EU authority thus confirmed initial estimates from April 2021.
Biggest decline in Spain
According to the latest figures, the sharpest decline was in Spain (-1.5 years), followed by Belgium and Bulgaria (both -1.3 years). There were no changes in Cyprus, Estonia and Finland. Only in Denmark did life expectancy increase by a modest 0.1 years. The EU average was 80.4 years in 2020 (2019: 81.3 years). Life expectancy was 5.7 years longer for women (83.2 years) than for men (77.5 years).
In most EU countries, men were also slightly more affected than women by the decline in life expectancy in 2020. In men, the age decreased by 1.0 years compared to 2019, in women by 0.8 years. For Austria, the statistics show a reduction in the average lifespan for men from 79.7 years in 2019 to 78.9 years, for women it fell by 0.6 years to 83.6 years in 2020.
The highest number of deaths since 1983
The corona virus claimed a particularly large number of deaths in the second wave of the pandemic in autumn 2020. While Austria got through the first wave in spring comparatively unscathed, infections and then deaths rose after the summer. At the end of the year, Statistics Austria recorded the highest number of deaths since 1983. Of 90,517 deaths in 2020, seven percent were due to the corona virus. Statistical life expectancy fell by more than half a year – more than at any time since records began in 1951.
Source: Nachrichten
